


Rebuilding

by toeloops



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Angst, Anxiety, Chronic Illness, Developing Relationship, Disabled Character, Explicit Sexual Content, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Masturbation, Mental Illness, Mutual Masturbation, Out of Character, Past Infidelity, Past Relationship(s), Phone Sex, Physical Disability, Realistic Depictions of Illness, Realistic Depictions of Injury, Sexual Content, Slow Burn, Strong Language, there's a reason for the out of character-ness
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-11-21
Packaged: 2020-02-27 10:23:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 57,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18737143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toeloops/pseuds/toeloops
Summary: Three years after essentially ghosting Victor following an argument, Yuuri hadn't expected to quite literally bump into the man that he would much rather forget. He also wasn't prepared for just how much Victor had changed in such a short time.





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Which there is a Meeting

Weeks? Months? How long had it been, anyway? Yuuri had lost track of time. Days seemed to fuse together as he fought to keep his emotional stability(or rather, what was left of it) in check. It wasn’t working the way he thought it would. He thought that maybe closing himself off to the world would help him recover, but it seemed to do the opposite. Even so, he couldn’t bring himself to open up even in the slightest. The old Yuuri Katsuki was no more. He had a new life now, far removed from his old self. After winning silver in the Grand Prix Final, he was on top of the world. His career had skyrocketed, and he was planning on making an even bigger statement the following season. His relationship with Victor - these days even the name alone had him bristling - couldn’t have been more perfect. Everything was starting to fall into place. He was going to compete again, with his wonderful fiance at his side. They performed as a couple, dancing on the ice with a certain grace and ability that could only come from two people who were perfectly in sync with each other. Together, they had broken down barriers in the world of pair skating, and they continued to turn heads with new and amazing performances. Every time he stepped out onto the ice with Victor, it was like he was lost in this beautiful dream. One that he never wanted to wake up from.

But all dreams must end.

They might have been living together, but it was like they were complete strangers in their own home. They had decided to return for one more season, the both of them competing solo this time. The stress of it all ended up becoming too much and the two began to grow apart. Talking simply gave way to arguments and did nothing but cause even more trouble in their relationship. Yuuri was constantly anxious, and Victor, dreadfully alone.

_“Where were you? I was up waiting all night..”_

_“I’m sorry, Yuuri.”_

Yuuri felt his world shatter beneath him as his life was turned upside down. As far as he was concerned, Victor was dead to him. Before he knew it he was packing his things and on the first flight to America, where he would start his new life, completely removed from everything he had once known and loved.

To say his phone blew up after the event was an understatement. It was less of an explosion and more of a volcanic eruption of text messages, calls, and voicemail.

 **Phichit:**  Yuuri, I’m really worried. I heard you and Victor had a fight! Call me when you get this, okay buddy?

_“Yuuri, honey it’s mom. Your friends are worried sick about you._ _We're_ _worried about you. Please call me, okay? We love you.”_

**Yurio:**  Hey asshole! I know something happened between you and Victor! He’s been moping around for god knows how long and it’s really fucking things up over here! Get your ass back here and fix it before I come drag you back, you hear me!

_“Yuuri, it’s me. Can we please talk about this? You have no idea how sorry I am. I know there’s no excuse for my actions but please, please can I just talk to you? Please call me back. I love you…”_

His social media accounts were being spammed to hell, and he didn’t even have to look twice before deactivating everything. Some might call it an overreaction, but when did Yuuri _not_ overreact. He ignored Phichit, blocked Yurio and Victor, and called his mother. He at least had the decency to do that; to let his family know that he was safe and just needed some space. He explicitly warned them not to bring up Victor in any way, shape, or form, and his heart felt a bit lighter when they agreed to respect those wishes.

Days passed by, and those soon melted into weeks and then months. The phone calls and texts became less and less frequent, and soon enough stopped altogether(okay, so the new phone number helped with that, he had to admit). He moved into a nice quiet neighborhood tucked inside the city and got a job at a local supermarket. Sure, he hated the work, and it wasn’t like he needed the money, but at least it gave him some sort of mindless distraction from it all. Sometimes he wondered what Victor was up to, but he couldn’t bring himself to look. One day his mother had called him and started the conversation by mentioning Victor’s name, and he had hung up before you could say “quad flip.” It was still a touchy subject for him, and Yuuri really didn’t have the best track record when it came to handling touchy subjects. So he did what came naturally to him. He crumbled, cornering himself in his own little world, letting his anxieties, insecurities, and depression take over until they all but swallowed him whole. He let it consume him, until one day he discovered, by complete chance nonetheless, that he couldn’t run forever.

It was a cold, winter day. The sky was overcast and as gray as his mood as he walked to work. Soft flurries of snow fell around him, the wind whipping flakes against his face and hair as he traveled down the sidewalk that ran alongside the main road. He paused when he came to the bridge that crossed over a small river that emptied out into a much larger lake that rested not too far from his home. The lake was frozen over, and flashbacks to his skating days came flooding back at the sight of the frozen glass that laid atop the water. He sighed. How he missed that life - the thrill of dancing on the ice, the memories of the people he had met - and Victor - he missed Victor the most. No matter how hard he tried to pull away, his heart kept tugging his mind in Victor’s direction, steering it down a crash course of emotions. Anger, sadness, hurt, and regret swelled up inside him. Despite his body and mind telling him that everything with Victor was over - that he absolutely wanted nothing to do with him - regret always found a way to sneak into his thoughts. He regret having not spoken to Victor for so long. By now it was probably too late to even come to some sort of mutual agreement on where the two of them stood, not even necessarily as a couple. What he wouldn’t give to turn back time.

He sighed, pushing those thoughts out of his head as he walked into work. After dropping his coat and bag off in the break room, he threw an apron(bright green and beyond obnoxious. It really stood out against his black uniform shirt and khaki pants) on and reported for his shift.

He was stuck stocking stuff. Of course. He supposed it was better than interacting with the general public on a more personal level but it also meant that he was a prisoner of his mind. The place wasn’t that busy this early in the morning, so there was no one to even attempt to approach with that famous yet slightly robotic “Is there anything I can help you find?” monologue.

As the day progressed, he was actually able to somewhat push his own thoughts out of his mind, thanks to business picking up, people who needed things retrieved for them, bosses that needed him to do this or that, and just the general mind-numbing day to day actions that came along with having a mundane job. What a relief that was.

His relief was short lived.

Rounding a corner to restock a collection of various teas and coffee, it happened. A man with short, silver hair was reaching for an object on the top shelf. He seemed like he would be tall enough to reach it, if he hadn’t been sitting down. Yuuri’s heart sank for a moment. Tall shelves were definitely not the most wheelchair-user-friendly things on the planet. And this man seemed so young. Not much older than Yuuri, from what Yuuri could tell from the view of the other male’s back at least. Without thinking, he shifted his box of goods to be restocked to one hand and reached for the object of the man’s interest with the other. Passing it to him, he muttered a “here you go,” in the process.

The man let out a lighthearted chuckle as he took the tea from the mystery man whose face was currently blocked by a giant box. “They always keep the good stuff on the top shelf. Spasi-I mean, thank you. I really appreciate it.”

Yuuri froze.

That voice.

He _knew_ that voice. He knew that accent. There was no mistaking it.

The box hit the floor with a resounding “thud” and the black haired male froze, his brown eyes widening behind his glasses as they traveled down to meet bright sky blue ones. The man he was talking to literally dropped what he had been holding in his lap and his jaw fell open at the sight before him.

“Yuuri?”

“Victor!?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow it’s been a long time since I have written anything.
> 
> A few notes about the story: I prefer Victor’s name spelled with a “c,” like the official merchandise spells it, so I’m going with that. That being said, I’m choosing to spell Yuri Katsuki’s name with the double “u"s, to differentiate him from Yuri Plisetsky and to emphasize the longer vowel pronunciation in Yuri K’s name(ゆうり --- Yūri), even though the official merchandise romanizes it as "Yuri”. Oh well lol. 
> 
> In addition, while do not personally see Victor as the type to ever cheat on Yuuri, I needed some catalyst to separate them and went with it. There will be further explanation for Victor’s actions later in the story, and things aren’t entirely black and white, so to speak. This story is still a major work in progress(I have about seven chapters rough drafted right now) and I am still figuring out some of the direction this story will take, but will update warnings and tags appropriately as the story goes on.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Which Anxiety Takes Hold

Yuuri wasn't sure if he was going to faint or throw up or both. He could feel his heart rate increase and his breath quicken as the tell-tale signs of an anxiety attack began to make themselves known. Victor was right here, in his town, in the store he worked at, standing(well, not technically) right in front of him. Why was he here, of all places? And why now? Had some god above somehow heard his silent prayer to have one more chance to speak to Victor? And why was he in a wheelchair? That was the part that honestly scared him the most. Was he injured? Was it temporary? Oh god what if it was permanent? What about his skating career? Skating was his life. Would he ever be able to return to the rink? And why was he so worried about Victor anyway, after everything that had happened - everything that he had put Yuuri through? 

Yuuri was practically hyperventilating at this point; he felt like he wasn't getting enough oxygen and his breaths came out in harsh wheezes. His fingers were cold, clammy, and starting to tingle as if they had fallen asleep. Victor was right there though, already working through the motions to help calm him down. After all this time, he could still recognize one of Yuuri's signature panic attacks. Honestly seeing him like this reminded Victor of when their relationship was just beginning. Back then Victor had a tendency to handle Yuuri's panic attacks rather poorly. He came across as relatively uncaring, and more often than not ended up saying things that hurt Yuuri rather than helped him. But as their relationship progressed, he gained a better understanding of how Yuuri needed him to respond to his anxiety. And that was something he never forgot. No matter how forgetful Victor was in his everyday life, the one thing he never forgot was Yuuri. He had to admit that he was surprised at Yuuri's reaction to seeing him. He had expected to be on the receiving end of anger, or sadness, not a panic attack. Victor really could only come to one conclusion: Yuuri didn't know. Yuuri didn't know about Victor's accident. Victor may act like a goofball at times, but he was intensely perceptive. 

"Yuuri," he said softly, “is touch okay?” he questioned, keeping his bright blue eyes trained on his ex-fiance’s, watching for any signs of discomfort as he reached forward, simply moving closer but not making contact just yet. Yuuri gave him a quick nod to confirm and Victor obliged, taking the other male's hand in his own and rubbing gentle circles onto the back of his hand with his thumb. He was trying to remain comforting without getting all up in Yuuri's space. Sometimes the other male didn't approve of having someone smother him when he was panicking, and with how things were betweeen the two of them right now, he wanted to make even more sure that he wasn't all up in Yuuri's business. "It’s okay, I promise. You’re going to be okay.” His voice was soft and gentle, like ripples lapping against a shoreline. “Deep breaths. With me now. In for four counts, hold for seven, out for eight. You can do this," he encouraged, taking a breath alongside Yuuri, and using his free hand to count out the beats before exhaling. Yuuri seemed to calm down after a few rounds of this, and slowly sank to the floor in exhaustion and embarrassment from having suffered a panic attack in the middle of the store. 

"Better?" Victor asked once Yuuri's breathing evened out as he leaned against the shelving, his eyes fluttering shut as the post-panic exhaustion hit him. "You can sit in my lap if the floor isn't too comfortable," he chuckled with a wink. He was both half-serious and half-joking. He had missed contact with Yuuri. He wouldn't deny that. 

Yuuri cracked one eye open at that comment and let out a huff. "I'm fine," he muttered. The panic was slowly being replaced by a mixture of frustration and pure discomfort. He felt like an idiot, especially for putting this sort of burden on Victor like this. Victor shouldn’t be responsible for handling his emotions. Not anymore. "Sorry. I didn't mean to cause so much trouble." He was still shaking a bit as he finally got back to his feet. "I need to get back to work," he said, gesturing to the box on the ground. 

Victor's expression fell, but he nodded in understanding. "I understand, Yuuri. I'm sorry for upsetting you." What else was he supposed to say? Work was important after all. They weren't together, and on top of it all, he had royally freaked Yuuri out. Yuuri had no reason to give him the time of day.

Yuuri was silent and Victor wondered if the box on the ground was really that interesting from the way that it suddenly seemed to grab all of the black-haired male's attention. Victor's gloved hands found the rim of his wheels and he began to turn away. "It really was good to see you again, Yuuri," he said over his shoulder before he turned to continue on. 

"Wait!" 

Victor didn't get very far before that familiar voice had him spinning around. 

"Wait... Victor..." Yuuri seemed to be having quite the hard time standng still. He was shaking slightly and picking at the skin of his fingertips. "Are you.... I mean.... do you have any free time tonight? Can we talk?" There. He said it. He wasn't going to let this opportunity pass by. 

Victor paused for a moment. He had to be at the rink this evening; there was no escaping that responsibility. If he tried to get out of that, he knew with absolute certainty that a certain angry Russian child would never let him hear the end of it, especially if his reason had anything to do with Yuuri. Unfortunately Yurio had grown less and less fond of Yuuri as the time had gone on. Yurio aside, the last thing Victor wanted to do was let those kids down. They were looking forward to this evening as much as he and Yurio were. "I have somewhere to be tonight. Do you have a lunch break this afternoon? I can meet you then. Or possibly tomorrow evening. I'm sorry I don't have more free time tonight." Yuuri couldn’t help but take notice of Victor’s speech patterns. He was much more... reserved than he had been in the past. It was slightly shocking to see the usually exhuberant Victor Nikiforov so... so quiet. Yuuri didn’t know why, but it unnerved him to the core. 

"I can take the rest of the day off.... tell them I'm sick or something...." Yuuri trailed off, once again focusing on the box on the ground. 

_'Well you certainly wouldn't have a hard time convincing them,'_ Victor thought to himself. Yuuri was still as pale as the snow that fell outside and a thin sheen of sweat coated the skin of his face and neck. He looked sick. "If that wouldn't be a problem with your employers, that's fine," the Russian replied. 

Yuuri nodded. They wouldn’t care. He had an incredible attendance record. Leaving early just this once due to feeling unwell wouldn’t arouse any suspicion. "It's fine. I'll let them know. Meet you outside?" 

Victor smiled. Yuuri was actually willing to speak with him. To say that didn’t make him feel lighter would be a lie. "Of course. See you in a moment." That smile was still plastered on his face as he gave a small nod of the head and turned, wheeling off to finish his shopping. 

Yuuri was easily able to convince his boss to let him have the day off, especially since Yuuri was one of their less problematic employees. Even so, Yuuri was sure that panic attack also worked in his favor; it at least made him look like he was too sick to work, and if he was honest it made him feel too sick to work too. Panic attacks really took a lot out of a person. He ditched the apron and shrugged on his coat, then grabbed his backpack and made for the door like his life depended on it. 

The cold air hit him like a slap in the face, and for a moment Yuuri felt horrible for asking Victor to meet him outside. Looking at Victor though, he didn't seem to mind. Instead he waited, a bag of food product purchases in his lap and his cell phone in his hands. He was currently buried in his phone, playing a game and grinning excitedly every time his score broke his previous record. 

"Hey," Yuuri called, walking over to where the other male sat. 

"Yuuri! Have you ever played this game!? You have to chop up all the fruit, but miss three times and you lose! It's so horribly addicting," he exclaimed, beyond excited over the game he held in his hands. Yuuri's lips twitched upward into the first genuine smile he had since running into Victor. The other male's fascination with such simple things always warmed his heart. He supposed that Victor was just trying to break the ice right now, but he would be lying if he said it wasn't working. 

"Yeah, it's pretty cool," he smiled, finally relaxing enough to take a good long look at his ex. Victor was still as sharply-dressed as ever, wearing a pair of black pants with shiny black shoes on his feet, a white button up shirt with a light gray vest and a black jacket, and a slightly darker gray scarf and black gloves to top it all off. He always looked so incredibly put together. Yuuri didn’t know how he did it. Fashion was never Yuuri’s thing(the only exception being the times Victor had planned his outfits) and he was always impressed by Victor’s ability to throw an outfit together with what seemed to be little to no effort. 

Victor grinned, finishing up a level and then closing the app and storing his phone in a small backpack that hung on the back of his chair. "Yeah," he breathed, turning to face Yuuri(and snapping him out of his thoughts in the process), those bright blue eyes meeting deep brown once again. "So, you wanted to talk? I need to drop this stuff off at the hotel but we can grab something to eat afterwards, or just talk at the hotel if you'd prefer to avoid the general public." 

Hotel. So Victor was only in town for a short period of time then. What were the chances? On one hand, going up to Victor's hotel room seemed a little strange, simply because his mind was suddenly filled with memories of all their travels together as a couple. On the other hand, he  _really_ didn't want to lose it in public again. This was the calm before the storm, or at least that's how it felt to him. "Yeah, let's just talk there." It would probably be easier on the both of them, after all. "Lead the way," he said, gesturing to the sidewalk. Yuuri had walked to work so he had assumed that Victor had done the same. 

Victor simply laughed and shook his head. "Now I'm not about to make either of us walk in the cold,” he replied with a dramatic flair that was quite reminiscent of the past. He dug through the front pocket of his backpack and pulled out a set of keys with a grin. "I rented a car," he exclaimed, his excitable and energetic personality that Yuuri had so fondly remembered peeking through clouds of hesitation. The Victor he remembered was certainly still there, and Yuuri almost wished he could see more of it. Yuuri snapped back to reality and focused his attention on the keys in Victor’s hands. So Victor rented a car, huh? Yuuri partially wondered how Victor was supposed to drive a car. Cars had pedals, didn't they? He spent the entire walk to the car wracking his brain over this mystery. 

They soon arrived at a black sedan, an expensive one by the looks of it, and Yuuri put his hand on the passenger side handle and swung the door open. 

"One moment, Yuuri. Before you get in, can you put the passenger seat down for me?" Victor asked after storing his bag of groceries in the back behind the driver’s seat and shutting the door. Opening the driver's side door and facing the driver's seat at a slight angle, he hoisted himself out of his chair and planted his butt firmly on the seat in one swift and fluid motion, then bent over a moment later to bring each leg into the car. 

Confusion washed over Yuuri's features but he obeyed nonetheless, reaching down for the lever and folding the seat down. “Spasibo,” Victor replied, although it was slightly muffed due to the fact that he was leaning out of the car again, this time fiddling with his chair. The backpack came off first and was tossed rather unceremoniously into the back seat. It wasn't like Victor had anything breakable in there. After that, the wheels came off. Those were placed in the back with much more care and consideration than the backpack. Finally, he folded what remained of the chair and placed it in the back of the car as well. Yuuri couldn't help but stare in awe at how Victor moved. Even after an injury, he still seemed to retain a lot of upper body strength and fluidity from his figure skating days. The reason behind folding down the front seat also became clear to Yuuri. It was probably a lot easier to move the wheels and chair to the back with more space. "You can get in now," Victor informed him after he had finished. Yuuri nodded, unfolding the seat and sitting down, closing the door behind him.

The inside of the car was extremely upscale. Black leather seats, sunroof, touchscreen controls for everything from the music to navigation to temperature, not to mention heated seats too(as well as steering wheel. Damn this was a nice car). There was, however, one thing that set it apart from other cars and that was a different lever that seemingly jutted out of the floor and rested near the gear shift. As Victor started the car(the car even had a push to start feature, no key needed – was there anything this thing didn’t have?), his right hand found the lever and they began to reverse out of the parking spot. Yuuri watched the touchscreen for a moment(the car even had a backup camera!) and then turned his attention to Victor. Everything finally made sense. That lever was the hand control for the pedals. That explained how Victor was able to drive, and as they drove, he couldn't help but watch in fascination, all the while wondering why it didn't click for him beforehand. 

He was starting to wonder if he was even prepared for what lied ahead.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Which There is a Discussion

The car ride was silent, and the journey up to the hotel room wasn't much better. Upon arriving, Victor put his purchases away and set to work on making each of them tea. Handing a cup to Yuuri, he gestured towards the couch, urging the other male to take a seat. He set his own drink down on the coffee table and transferred himself to the couch before picking his cup back up again and taking a sip. Yuuri had watched the entire process, and despite the nagging feeling in the back of his head that this could be making Victor feel uncomfortable, he couldn't look away. Was this honestly Victor's new normal now? Were the day to day activities that came so quickly and easily now so much more effort for him? Part of Yuuri died a little inside at the thought.

Yuuri pulled his gaze away from Victor to take a sip of his own drink before scanning the room. It was nice and spacious. There was a small kitchen area and a large bedroom with two queen sized beds, as well as a comfortable living space. "Nice place..." he commented, trying to at least slice through some of the silence that hovered so thickly in the air.

Victor nodded. "It is."

Pause.

"Yeah."

Another pause.

"So tell me, Yuuri. What did you want to talk about?" Yuuri was the one that had asked him to talk, after all.

There it was.

Yuuri fiddled with the mug in his hands, glancing down at the beverage swirling inside as he spoke, his voice wavering slightly with each word. "What happened?" he almost whispered.

"I think you know what happened. You ran off and dropped off the face of the earth without so much as a word." Victor knew that Yuuri wasn't referring to their breakup, but even so, he wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to send a little venom in Yuuri's direction. Even years later, they were both still worked up over what had happened.

"Yeah, I know that! But that's because you--"

"Because I fucked up, I _know_!" Victor practically yelled, finishing Yuuri's sentence for him. Yuuri was slightly taken aback by Victor's use of language. "But you could have at least had the common decency to let me know if you were okay! You have no idea how worried I've been about you! And not just me, either. Your friends, competitors, hell, even Yurio for that matter! If you didn't want me in your life, that's fine, but at least be open and honest with me about it!"

Yuuri laughed. "Oh, like you were that night?!" he spat. "Why should I have said anything to you after what you put me through? I waited up all night, you wouldn't answer your phone, and when you finally showed up you were still drunk off your ass! Then when you were coherent enough to form actual sentences, I find out that you were out fucking all night. Yeah, I really appreciate that, Victor! You think you can just come back into my life and apologize and it'll be like nothing's changed? Well I’m sorry but it doesn’t work that way." He sighed. "You've always been so selfish. Do you ever stop to consider the other person's feelings? Did I ever mean anything to you?" Behind his glasses, his eyes were shining with tears threatening to fall. "What happened to us?"

"We were both stubborn and selfish," Victor replied, looking down at his knees for fear of losing any composure he had left if he so much as glanced in Yuuri's direction. "We let the pressures of competing get in the way of our relationship, and netiher of us did anything to fix that. Instead, we grew apart, and I... I just couldn't take it. I felt like no matter how much I tried to close that gap between us, it just kept getting wider. I was desperate for attention, and I made the biggest mistake of my life. I wanted to feel _something_ , because I felt like we were nothing. Yuuri, I couldn’t even talk to you without it escalating into a screaming match. I'm not trying to make excuses for my actions; there are none, but I at least wanted a chance to explain. I didn't get a chance to before. You left. But maybe that was for the best. You had every reason to leave over what I did to you."

Yuuri was silently sobbing at this point. Despite the fact that he was still seething over the events of the past, he couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt at the realization that back then, he really had been pushing Victor further and further away. Yuuri shut down when he was stressed or insecure, and the pressures of competing against Victor - someone whose track record in the world of figure skating was much better than his - had him crumbling. "I'm sorry," he sobbed, "I'm sorry for pushing you away. You're right though, it is no excuse." Yuuri was surprised at how understanding he was of Victor's position in all of this. Perhaps it was because he had had so much time to heal from the initial hurt of it all. Or perhaps he was beginning to realize that maybe, just maybe, his actions had influenced Victor’s behavior. No, he wasn’t going to go there just yet. "You hurt me, Victor. More than you'll ever know."

"I know. It's all I've thought about these past three years." Three years? Was that really how long it had been? "I can't change the past. I know that no amount of apologizing will fix things, but I can't help but feel like we ran into each other for a reason. Even if that reason is just for me to gain your forgiveness." He wasn't looking to get back together. Yuuri had moved on, and Victor was even more broken now than he was before. Victor just wanted closure on that chapter of his life; he wanted to move on with Yuuri's forgiveness. Hopefully he would be lucky enough to at least get that.

Yuuri thought for a moment, removing his glasses and rubbing the tears from his eyes before sliding them back onto his face. "I don't know if I can forgive you just yet, but I'd say this is a step in the right direction," he reassured him. This wasn't a wound that they could just patch in a heartbeat. It would take time. Talking to Victor now did lift a weight from his shoulders(which surprised him because he assumed this meeting would have the opposite effect). Maybe they did run into each other for a reason.

"Thank you, Yuuri. I appreciate it." Blue eyes met brown and a smile formed on Victor's face. The response that Yuuri had given him was more positive than he ever anticipated.

Yuuri nodded, giving him a small smile in return before glancing down at his cup once again and returning to his awkward fidgeting as he prepared to breach off-topic territory. "Can I ask you one more thing?" he questioned.

"It's about the chair, right?" Victor just knew. Of course he knew. Yuuri wouldn't have panicked nearly as much as he did if Victor had simply been standing there.

Yuuri took a deep, shuddering breath and nodded, his eyes locking on the wheelchair that sat beside the couch. "Yeah. What...what happened? Is it...?"

"Permanent, yes," Victor finished. “Yes, it is.” Yuuri gave a sharp intake of breath at the confirmation. So it was a permanent thing. Victor would never stand again, walk again, skate again. His breathing began to quicken and Victor put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down.

“Relax, Yuuri. It’s okay. I’ve come to terms with it,” he reassured him.

 “But... skating… your passion… you….”

 Victor chuckled. “Hey, I was getting close to retirement anyway." He was past the point of retirement, to be completely honest. "And besides, I’m not entirely off the rink. I’m quite content with coaching nowadays.”

 “How….?” Yuuri trailed off.

 “….did it happen?” What? Did Victor have built-in autofill or something?

 “Yeah.”

Victor was silent, his gaze shifting to his chair and lingering there for a long moment. As the scene replayed in his mind, he determined that the last thing he wanted to do was to go into the full details of what happened that night. He finally returned his gaze to his ex-fiance. “I was in an accident,” he said, settling for a concise explanation. Yuuri didn’t need yet another thing to feel guilty over.

 “I’m sorry.” Yuuri wanted to press for details but held back. Something about the look in Victor’s eyes told him not to say anything else.

 “There’s nothing to apologize for.”

Even so, Yuuri couldn’t help but feel as though something was partially his fault. If he hadn’t left without saying goodbye… if he had just told Victor that he was okay… maybe Victor wouldn’t have gotten into an accident in the first place. He didn’t even know if he was the reason that Victor had gotten hurt, but he couldn’t deny that those thoughts were creeping into his mind. Guilt threatened to swallow him whole as he felt his panic rising.

 “Yuuri.” Victor’s soft voice pulled him out of his head.

 “Yeah?”

 “Relax.”

 ‘ _Easier said than done,’_ Yuuri thought to himself. “How long....?”

 “Have I been this way?” There he went again with the autofill. It was like Victor could read his mind. Then again, anyone could probably piece together that question with no trouble at all.

 Yuuri nodded.

Victor took a sip of his tea, seemingly deep in thought. He looked up a moment later, a soft chuckle emerging from his throat as he spoke. “A few years now,” he informed the other male. It wasn’t exactly a lie but it wasn’t exactly the truth either. The answer was closer to three years if anything, but Victor wasn’t about to let that little tidbit of information slip. “It’s amazing how time flies. Feels like just yesterday I was trying to figure out how to work that damn thing,” he said, nodding towards the wheelchair once again. “I do have a question for you though.”

 “What is it?”

“Have you been living under a rock? I’m surprised that no news of this reached you.” Between Yuuri’s reaction at the grocery store and all of his questions just now, it was clear to Victor that Yuuri had absolutely no idea that Victor had been injured.

“I guess you can say that I have,” the black-haired male replied honestly. “I cut everything about figure skating out of my life. I haven’t even stepped foot into a rink since... you know. I changed my number, cut contact with the other skaters, stayed away from skating news and forums... I don’t even have cable or anything at my place.” He also supposed that he was lucky that most of the people he interacted with in town knew nothing about figure skating or weren’t fans of the sport to begin with. He was also quick to shut down anyone who did mention that they recognized him from his skating days. He was good at shutting people out. He proved that with shutting Victor out all those years ago.

Victor was beyond shocked that Yuuri had successfully managed to distance himself from the skating world. If it were him in Yuuri’s position, he would have somehow even accidentally come across figure skating news. But he supposed he could understand. Once someone wasn’t a part of anything, it became hard to come across relevant information on that subject. Victor wasn’t a football fan for example, and therefore knew nothing about the sport or the people involved with it as a result.

He was so busy thinking about _how on earth_ Yuuri had no idea when the fact that Yuuri was still speaking to him finally registered. “I have to be honest, the last thing I expected was to run into you of all people today.” The town was so small.... nothing big happened here. It was strange for someone of Victor’s caliber to show up here of all places. “How did you end up in a place like this?”

Victor chuckled. “I’m teaching a workshop in town.”

“Workshop?” Wow, Yuuri really did live under a rock.

A nod from Victor. “Yes, since I’m not skating I’m concentrating on coaching. I’ve been traveling.... hosting workshops for promising students across the world. Those workshops led me here. I’m teaching one at your local rink over the weekend. It really surprised me to run into you here. It really is a small world.”

“Yeah, I guess it is.” So that explained why Victor was only in town for a short period of time.

Yuuri could have sworn the silence that followed could have been cut with a knife.

A ping from Victor’s phone sliced through the ever-thickening quiet that hovered between them and a laugh escaped Victor’s lips as he read over the rather angry text from Yurio. The younger male was already at the rink(early as usual, as expected of the boy) and he was demanding to know where Victor was. “Speaking of this weekend’s workshop, I need to be getting to the rink. Would you like a ride home? I can drop you off on the way. I’m sorry to cut the conversation short, Yuuri,” Victor said as he began to transfer himself back into his chair.

Yuuri shook his head. “No, it’s okay. You were nice enough to take some time out of your busy schedule to talk to me. I can walk home. I don’t live too far from here.”

 “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, uhh... thanks... for this.” Being able to talk to Victor like this really helped lift a weight off of Yuuri’s shoulders. As they made their way to the elevators and down to Victor’s car, he felt significantly lighter than he had these past three years.

Victor got himself into his vehicle and turned to Yuuri. “Perhaps I’ll see you around?” he questioned with a grin and a wink.

Yuuri had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. While it had been a serious day for certain, there were little moments where Victor’s rather extra personality snuck in. It was refreshing and reminded him of the old days of their relationship. “We’ll see.”

“Oh Yuuri you didn’t reject me I’m so happy!” he practically giggled. This time Yuuri did roll his eyes.

“Get to the rink. You don’t want to keep your students waiting.”

Victor nodded and the two said their goodbyes. As Yuuri began his walk home, he couldn’t help but wonder if he should pay a visit to the rink tomorrow....

 

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Yuri and Victor Teach a Class, and Yuuri Makes a Decision 
> 
> ...and the author projects her past struggles with scratch spins and loop jumps

The rink was empty save for one of the owners working the front desk and Yurio out on the ice, skating laps and warming up spins and jumps while he waited for Victor. No surprise that he was alone. The students weren’t due for quite some time but the young blond wanted some time to warm up and to and to run through his programs before the workshop. Even though he had agreed to take some extra time to help Victor with these classes, he was still in training himself. He had a few competitions coming up, and wanted to take every opportunity possible to practice and prepare. Due to their traveling(and at Yurio’s insistence – especially now that Katsuki was out of the picture) Victor had taken on the role of Yurio’s coach and choreographer. It just worked out better this way.

Yurio had already laced up and warmed up by the time Victor had arrived. The blond huffed, skating over towards the hockey box and grabbing his drink off of the boards while he waited for the older male to approach and situate himself. “You sure you don’t need a hand?” he asked somewhat gruffly as Victor pulled himself onto the bench, his green eyes locked on the older male from behind the windblown bangs of his now much shorter hair. He wasn’t sure how Victor managed those transfers. It wasn’t like it was a short distance from the entrance of the box to the bench.

“I’ve got it, don’t worry,” Victor smiled, sighing happily once he was comfortably seated. “Sorry I’m late.”

Yurio shrugged and took a long sip of what Victor had to assume was the most sickeningly sweet sports drink on the planet, and regarded Victor with narrowed emerald eyes. The man looked even more chipper than usual if that was even possible. “What’s got you in such a good mood, old man?”

Victor laughed. “Heeeeey I’m not old!!”

“Your hair is gray.”

“Silver, silver!!” Victor interjected. “In any case, you’ll never guess who I ran into today!”

Yurio raised an eyebrow.

“Yuuri Katsuki!”

“...What?”

Yurio nearly hit the ice at the mention of that name. He had to physically grab onto the boards to steady himself. Was Victor serious or just fucking with him? And why the hell would that make Victor  _happy_ of all things? It wasn’t like the two of them had the healthiest relationship right now. “You’re shitting me.”

Victor shook his head. “I’m not. I ran into him at the grocery store today! Can you believe he lives in town? Small world, huh?”

Small world indeed. “So that shitty Katsudon lives in town…” he pondered out loud. “That’s why you’re late, isn’t it?”

A nod from Victor. “He asked if we could talk for a bit, so we did.”

“Uh huh.”

“Okay so there was some yelling involved… And some crying.”

“No shit.” That was a given. In the back of his mind Yurio couldn’t help but wonder what Victor expected to get out of speaking with Yuuri today. As far as he was concerned, Victor and Yuuri were no longer a thing, and would never be again. But he supposed anything could happen, and even if their relationship was never rekindled, at least Victor would have the chance to receive the forgiveness that he always wished for… and Yurio would have the chance to deliver a swift kick to Yuuri’s face for leaving like he did.

“But we had a good talk. I really think that maybe he’ll forgive me.”

“For your sake I can only hope,” Yurio responded hotly.

Another nod from Victor. The older man was much more subdued now, and the younger male could tell that he was thinking hard about things. “I hope I’ll be able to see him again before we leave.”

Yurio shrugged. “You never fucking know.” He didn’t approve of the two of them seeing each other like this, but if it meant that he would be one step closer to kicking that Katsudon where it counted, he would allow it. “Stop fucking frowning like that, by the way. You’re face is going to get stuck.”

A chuckle. “I suppose you’re right. In any case, we can talk about all of that fun stuff later! Right now we need to run through your programs before our students arrive. Are you warmed up?”

“Yep.” 

“Good. Your key?”

“My bag. Front pocket,” he informed the older male, gesturing to the sports bag sitting on the floor of the hockey box next to Victor’s feet.

Victor nodded, digging through the front pocket of Yurio’s bag(while Yurio took that time to shoot Otabek a text about Yuuri and Victor’s meeting) and pulling out a small, white, rectangular-shaped key tag attached to a metal figure skate keychain. “Get ready,” he smiled, watching as Yurio skated towards the starting position for his short program. Once Yurio was in place, he held the key tag against a scanner on the music control panel and selected the correct song.

The music began and Yurio flew into his choreography, his mind and body locked into performance mode. Victor watched intently as he carried out each and every element of the program, making notes in his head that were mostly nitpicky but that didn’t matter. While Victor was very confident in Yurio’s ability to pull off a clean program for his next competition, he still preferred to use every practice as an opportunity to learn and fine tune things.

Yurio completed the final spin combination in his program and came to a stop in his final pose as the music faded out, his shoulders heaving as he tried to catch his breath after pushing himself so hard, especially on his jumps in the last half of the program. After recovering slightly, he skated over towards where Victor sat waiting(and clapping like a madman) and grabbed his drink again, taking a long sip and leaning heavily against the boards while waiting for Victor’s critique.

Victor was grinning ear to ear. “Not bad at all, Yuri. That was a fine performance!” he exclaimed, using one arm to steady himself against the boards in front of him and leaning over to pat Yurio on the shoulder with his other hand. Yurio had to lean forward a bit to meet him halfway. He had grown even taller in the past few years, almost as tall as Victor and certainly taller than Yuuri. It was a bit of a shock to Victor's system to see how quickly Yuri Plisetsky had grown, and it led to a lot of frustration when Yurio had to essentially re-learn all of his elements due to his center of gravity shifting so dramatically. Thinking back on it, that growth spurt was really when Yurio's flutzing habit began. Yurio had never taken off on that jump from an inside edge when he was younger. That was something they were still trying to fully correct even now. And it was something that Victor was dead set on mentioning. Every. Single. Practice. 

As soon as his hand made contact with Yurio’s shoulder his tone shifted to that of a much more serious one. Even his facial expression had tightened up. With that, the ranting began. “Now I want you to think about that back spiral entry before stepping forward for your triple axel. I’ve seen you get that leg higher. Remember to arch your back more and think about your arm placement. That back outside edge had way too much curve to it because you let that arm go. You were also slightly underrotated on that loop, and you were dangerously close to flutzing that lutz.” He had already spent a good amount of time correcting Yurio’s flutz, and he wasn’t about to deal with that again. No, if he could stop it before it started back up then that would be much preferred.

Yurio rolled his eyes. “My outside edge is on vacation,” he replied with a shrug in response to the comment on his lutz. He made a mental note of Victor’s other critiques, planning on putting them into action during his next run through.

“Tell it to come back home.”

“Yeah yeah. And my spins?”

Victor really couldn’t find much to critique on Yurio’s spins. His spin combinations were brilliant as usual. “All I can think of is working on centering that flying camel-sit combination a little more, and trying to get lower for your sit spin.”

Yurio nodded. “So… FS now? Or do you want me to run the SP again?”

Victor glanced at the rink’s clock. “Let’s run your FS. They’ll be here soon. If we have time later we’ll run both again.”

“Sure thing.”

Victor queued up the music for Yurio’s free skate and the young male began, running through his choreography will the same intensity as his SP. He finished, even more out of breath than before and he had to resist practically collapsing on the ice when the music ended. Yurio swore that Victor was trying to kill him with this program. It was like it was specifically designed to push him beyond his limits. So far he hadn’t let it win though, and for that he was pleased. Victor was very pleased as well that Yurio was able to keep up with his sadistic choreography. Yurio pulled himself together, still slightly shaking as he skated towards Victor to discuss his program.

A quick round of critique ensued and before they could finish their discussion, the sounds of chattering voices could be heard from the entrance to the rink. The students had arrived, it seemed. “We’ll finish talking later. You did wonderfully, Yuri. Grab a snack while they lace up. Then we’ll start the class.”

 “Da.” 

 

* * *

 

 

So much for feeling lighter.

Yuuri Katsuki flopped onto his bed, his mind reeling with thoughts on the day’s events. The fact that he had quite literally run into Victor today was still a major shock to his system. He hadn’t felt this strange combination of anger, sadness, and relief in ages and it was really screwing with his anxiety. He grabbed a pillow and curled around it in a desperate attempt to steady his emotions. Tears filled his eyes as he pressed his face into the pillow, his glasses sliding off in the process. Memories of the past kept replaying in his head – their first meeting, Victor coming to Hasetsu to be his coach, Eros, their first kiss, their engagement, the Grand Prix Final, their pair skating, their skating as competitors, and their final argument on the night that changed everything – and he broke down completely. Yuuri sobbed, completely overwhelmed with emotion.

Yuuri couldn’t help it. He was so angry – angry that Victor had shown up in his life again, angry that Victor had brought back all of the memories that he had tried so desperately hard to forget, angry at himself for pushing Victor away in the past, and angry at himself for running instead of facing the situation head on. He hurt for the friends he lost, the experiences that he let slip through his fingers, and most of all for Victor’s situation. Victor was hurt. His entire life had been turned upside down. He would never skate again. The thought alone almost made him feel sick. Yuuri knew how intensely passionate for skating Victor was. Yuuri couldn’t help but feel somewhat responsible for Victor’s injury. He remembered wishing punishment on Victor for his actions, but this wasn’t what he meant by that. This wasn’t fair.

As his sobs dissipated into sniffles, he reached for his phone and dialed a number. He knew he was taking a risk. There might not be an answer considering he was calling the other side of the world right now. Placing it against his ear, he rather impatiently waited for someone to pick up on the other end of the line. He finally heard the tell tale click of someone picking up, and let out a sigh of relief.

“Hello?”

 

* * *

 

“That’s it, remember to hold that left outside edge longer. You’re forcing your spin to start too soon,” Victor informed one of his students as they worked on a few scratch spins. “You’re also rising up on your toe which is contributing to your traveling. Press INTO that left hip. Don’t drop your right hip and make sure you're not turning it out. Squeeze everything tight! Stay over your left side and don’t forget to engage your core. Stand up straight! Yurio, can you give him a hand?”

Yurio nodded, skating over and taking the student’s hands, positioning them left arm in front and right behind. “Start from a standstill just to feel that edge,” Yurio instructed, standing behind him and guiding him as he pushed off from a standing T-position at the one of the blue lines on the ice. “And start your rotation… now,” he stated, giving him a gentle nudge into his spin as he curved back to the same line he started on.

The student held the spin, bringing his free leg in and then guiding it down into a tight scratch spin. His eyes widened in surprise as he checked out of his spin and admired the tracing. “Holy crap, it was actually centered.” He had been working on this damned spin for far longer than he wanted to admit.

“That’s what happens when you hold your entry edge long enough,” Yurio commented. “And you pressed into your spin instead of getting all up on your toes. Try it again by yourself this time. Then work on it from back crossovers.”

Yurio and Victor worked with the others on their scratch spins, each student getting individualized attention from the two men. Soon they proceeded onto testing out some back scratch spins, change foot spins, and beginning sit spins before proceeding to single jumps. Higher level jumps and spins were scheduled for the following day. Some of today’s students were working on the higher level elements, but Victor and Yurio always liked to start off with with less complicated spins and single jumps just to get a baseline, and to give some of the lower level students an opportunity to work with them. Victor hated that so many elite skaters who traveled for workshops only took students of a certain level(yes it certainly was a greater benefit to the higher level students but it was such a confidence boost for someone of any level to learn from an elite skater). It made sense to an extent but Victor wanted to extend the invitation to students of all levels. He and Yurio were even going to teach a beginner’s class the next morning before taking on the intermediate to higher level students in the afternoon.

“Keep your leg crossed in that backspin position on that loop jump!” Victor called out to another student. While it was just a single loop, she was still struggling with getting over that right side. The jump looked fine except for the fact that her left leg wasn’t remotely crossed over the right in the air. “You’re unraveling too soon. Don’t forget to focus on your timing: set, sit, jump. Really make sure you’re getting a good hook on the take off. Remember that even though it’s an edge jump it still needs to hook and then spring off the toepick. Don’t rush it.”

She nodded, skating backwards and executing a few backwards crossovers before setting up for her loop jump, bending her knees and trying to get a good hook before rolling up onto her right toepick and springing off the ice, pulling into that backspin position and rotating before two footing the landing.

“You’re overthinking it,” Yurio stated simply. “Come here.” He led her to the boards and walked through the jump on the wall. “I know it seems silly but I walk through all my jumps on the wall before I practice. It helps.” He really did. It was part of his warmup routine. Single, double, triple, quad… none of that mattered. Just going through the motions and getting that timing and muscle memory down helped significantly.

Her next attempt at the loop jump away from the wall was an improvement for certain. “Good, keep working on it,” Yurio encouraged in his own way.

Consistency was key, after all.

 

* * *

 

“Mom?” he asked, slipping into Japanese effortlessly as she answered.

Hiroko Katsuki was instantly awakened from her deep sleep the moment the phone rang. Yuuri never called in the middle of the night unless he really needed something, and she immediately scrambled to the phone to answer.“Yuuri? Honey are you okay?” she asked, worry lacing her words.

He would be lying if he said that he was, and his voice would give it away before that. “No...” he choked out, the tears returning at the sound of her voice.

“What happened, sweetheart?”

“I….” he sobbed, “I ran into Victor today. H-He’s in town. I… mom, he’s hurt.”

“I know.”

Yuuri froze. She knew? How? She never said anything to him about it. He was on the verge of hyperventilating now. “What…?”

“I tried to tell you when I heard that he was in an accident, but you shut me down. I didn’t want to upset you so I dropped the subject.”

Yuuri nodded even though she couldn’t see him do so. He understood. He was so adamant about not hearing anything about Victor that he missed the news about his injury. It was all on him. There was no one else to blame but himself in this situation.

“What do I do?”

“About what, honey?”

Yuuri vented. He vented about everything. About how pissed off he was that Victor was in town, about his injury, about their conversation in the hotel room, about the events that led to their breakup, and about just _how much_ he really had missed Victor during these past three years. “He fucking _cheated_ on me. I should be pissed off. I AM pissed off. He betrayed my trust…. But, b-but I…” Deep down inside he still loved Victor. Even if they would never have a relationship again, he still cared about Victor’s well-being. “I don’t know what to do!”

Hiroko listened with the patience of a saint, taking in each of Yuuri’s words with respect and regard. “It sounds to me like you want to try to work towards forgiving him at the very least. I think that’s a very noble act, Yuuri. Something tells me that you will regret it if you don’t at least talk to him a bit more about all of this. I’m not telling you to get back together with him, but if your heart is telling you that you need to speak with him again, I wouldn’t let that opportunity slip away.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” She was right. He would regret it horribly if he didn’t at least see Victor again before he left. He wasn’t going to run this time. He was done running. “Thank you, mom.”

“You’re welcome, sweetheart. I love you, remember that, okay?”

“I love you too,” he said softly. “I should let you get back to sleep. Talk to you later?”

“Call me any time you need, love.”

 “Thank you.”

 It was decided. He WAS going to the rink tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I figured the majority of the rinks that Victor and Yuri travel to utilize the rinkmusic system, or something similar. It's what we use at the rink I skate at and it makes running programs so easy. You scan your key, pick your song, and once the system announces your name you have five seconds to get into place before your music starts. For rinks that don't use a system like that, I think Victor and Yuri would just have to utilize their phones and auxiliary cords or something. 
> 
> Scratch spins and loop jumps have been the bane of my existence in the past(both still tend to go on vacation more often than I would like), and so of course I had to add a healthy bit of projection there. 
> 
> I have always imagined that Yurio would be a flutzer. I don't know why lol. Maybe just to give Victor something to consistently nag him about. 
> 
> I am absolutely terrible with writing programs but I'll do some research and try to slip one or two(or several) detailed programs in here. I might take some elements from some of my programs to throw in there, just scaling them up to Yurio's ability, while still making sure they follow the rules. I skate and test ISI right now (and will be beginning my USFSA tests this summer/fall) so I only have firsthand experience with ISI competitions for the time being, so needless to say I am pulling a lot from personal experience even if it doesn't make sense. I don't really follow the sport as a spectator lol so I'm not familiar with how things operate on an international level, but there are certain skaters I will take the time to watch because I love watching them skate.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Yurio kicks that Katsudon where it counts.

To say that there were butterflies in his stomach would be an understatement. Yuuri was a nervous wreck. After a night of rather restless sleep, he pulled himself out of bed as the sun began to creep over the horizon and after quite a bit of procrastinating due to the sheer amount of nerves buzzing in his body, he finally got himself dressed and ready for the rink. He almost had to smile a bit as he pulled his skate bag out of the deepest depths of his closet, opening it for the first time in ages to find his skates still tucked away inside, blades safely contained inside their soakers. He wasn’t intending on skating today, but bringing skates to the rink was a familiar action to him, and that helped quell the nerves a bit. It was something familiar. Going without them to a place where he wouldn’t be caught dead without them just seemed wrong.

After attempting to swallow about half a piece of toast and some juice, he decided that he had done enough to delay the inevitable and laced up his shoes to head out. Grabbing his bag and stepping outside into the cold, crisp air, he shut the door behind him and locked it before walking the unfamiliar path to the rink.

The rink itself was small, and looked as though it had seen better days. Upon walking inside, he couldn’t help but fixate on the holes in the rubber flooring, the scuffs on the boards, the hockey pucks stuck in the walls, and the bent and broken zamboni doors on the main rink. There was a smaller studio rink across from the main, and it was in an even worse state. It made his heart ache a bit and he inwardly wanted to do something to help restore the rink to its former glory(if it had a former glory to begin with, he had no idea) and he wanted to personally thank Victor and Yurio for coming out to teach these kids, even if the environment was less than favorable. Yuuri was sure that some elites wouldn’t even touch rinks like this(while there were plenty of amazing people in his sport, he wouldn’t deny that there was a fair amount of snobbery that existed as well). He himself was used to being spoiled by fancy rinks growing up, and while he would never oppose teaching in a rink like this, he still wanted to improve this place for the kids taking classes here.

A quick glance at the rink clock and then a confirmation with the owner cemented the fact that he was early. Victor and Yurio had yet to arrive, so he sat down on one of the benches along the walls and plopped his skate bag on the ground next to it. He glanced around, nervously drumming his fingers against his thighs, his eyes soon landing on the bag next to him. It was mocking him, he just knew it. Telling him to stop sitting there wallowing in anxiety and to do something about it. He sighed and took another moment to check the clock again. Well, he was early, after all(of course he was, that hadn’t changed within the course of a few moments, although to Yuuri it felt like an eternity). With a deep breath he unzipped his bag and pulled out his skates, replacing the soakers with hard guards as he did so. Yuuri removed his shoes and put his skates on, lacing up nice and tight before walking to the ice, removing his guards one at a time as he stepped out onto it.

In that instant all of his anxieties vanished(for the time being at least) and he began to glide along the ice, starting with simple perimeter stroking, just feeling the ice against his blades and the cold air of the rink on his face. Soon enough, he was warming up crossovers and power pulls, the sounds of his edges cutting through the ice bringing an entirely new wave of calm to his body. Muscle memory began to take over and he soon found himself warming up jumps… and then spins… and then one of his old programs. He was surprised at how much he had retained after not being on the ice for so many years. Even so, Yuuri remained restrained, editing his program as he went, not pushing beyond single jumps(and leaving his lutz and axel out completely) for the time being, and just getting used to this familiar yet new feeling. He also had to admit(although he hated to admit this) that he was incredibly out of shape and the last thing he wanted to do was injure himself because of that fact, especially when Victor was due to arrive soon. For now, he lost himself in the sounds of the ice beneath him and the music playing inside his mind.

* * *

 

Yurio and Victor’s morning was slightly more eventful.

“Victor!! Hurry it up in there we don’t have all day!” Yurio shouted as he pounded on the door to the only bathroom in their otherwise perfect hotel room(okay so in Yurio’s honest opinion it needed two bedrooms and two bathrooms to be perfect but this was a hotel and not a house so he had no choice but to deal with it).

“Perfection takes time, Yurio!” Victor called back from inside, his voice dripping with an annoying sing-songy tone that had Yurio practically bristling.

“You’ve been in there forever! We’re going to be late!” Yurio knew at this point that Victor was just dicking off in there, trying to make himself even more presentable than ever, just on the off chance that Yuuri decided to show up at the rink. They had both been up for long enough, and as a result both had plenty of time to finish their morning routines. Now Victor was just putting the icing on the cake, so to speak.

“I’m almost done!”

“You know there’s a pretty damn good chance that shitty Katsudon won’t even show up, right?”

“One should always be properly prepared!”

Yurio felt his head collide with the door as he let out a huff in exasperation. “If we’re late, it’s your fault, you hear me?” he growled, storming off into the bedroom and plopping down on his bed. He looked to Victor’s bed across from his and sighed at all of the clothes strewn upon it. How many times did that old man change this morning? Why couldn’t he just keep things simple like Yurio did? Black training pants, black shirt, and his Russia jacket. That was all he needed. So _why on earth_ did Victor always have to put together obnoxiously complicated outfits? And _why in hell_ did he constantly change out of one obnoxiously complicated outfit and into another this morning. Fucking Katsudon. Yurio growled. He didn’t want to think about any of this right now. Instead he opted for texting Otabek to vent about his current situation. Yurio was grateful that Beka was not only a good friend(boyfriend), but also someone that could keep him grounded during his more frustrated moments.

‘ _Good luck pulling him out of there now that he has a mission on his hands.’_ Otabek texted back.

‘ _Thanks. If he’s not out in five minutes I swear I’m going to kill him. I’m not going to be late because he’s busy fucking primping.’_

‘ _You’ll make it on time. Don’t stress it too much. Classes going okay?’_

‘ _Yeah. The rink is shit but the kids are nice. At least they care, unlike the idiot I’m rooming with. ’_

Otabek chuckled as he formulated a reply. _‘_ _Glad to hear it’s going well. How’s the new equipment working out?’_

There it was. Yurio knew it would be coming. Not that he cared, at least when Otabek was the one asking. _‘_ _So much better you have no fucking idea. Especially now that I figured out how to work the damn thing.”_

‘ _Good. You’ll have to give me a crash course on how it works next time I see you.’_

‘ _Only you. Shit, Victor’s ready, finally. I’ll text you later?’_

‘ _Looking forward to it.’_

‘ _=3’_

“And who would you be texting at this hour, hmmm?” Victor asked, a sly smile spreading across his face as he approached the bed the teen was sitting on.

Yurio proceeded to throw a pillow at him which Victor intercepted, much to Yurio’s disappointment. “None of your business, old man!” he shouted. “And wipe that weird ass grin off your face you look like a creeper!”

“Tell him I said hello,” Victor winked.

Yurio huffed. “Let’s go or we’re going to be late. I thought you wanted to get there early, asshole. Or do you not want me to run your sadistic programs before class?”

Victor simply laughed. “Oh you aren’t getting out of running your programs no matter what. Come, let’s go. The rink awaits!”

“Yeah ye--” It was then that he noticed what Victor was wearing. He had opted for a pair of comfortable black pants and a navy blue v-neck t-shirt, all topped off with a soft black jacket. At that sight of Victor’s clothing choice, Yuri Plisetsky nearly broke his phone that he was still holding in half. “ _T_ _hat’s_ what you fucking decide on after all this time!? I’ll fucking kill you, you asshole!” He shouted, probably disturbing all of the neighbors within a five block radius of the hotel. The fact that he had the nerve to change out of all of those elaborate and time consuming outfits into… that… felt like a slap in the face.

Victor giggled.

* * *

 

Yuuri was so lost in his skating that he didn’t hear the voices. He should have been paying more attention. He shouldn’t have let himself become fully distracted by the ice beneath his blades. But he did. And needless to say, when the soft words laced with Russian accents reached his ears(something about precautions and GOE and what-ifs and Yurio-if-you-flutz-that-lutz-I-swear-to-god), he completely lost his footing mid back-camel and proceeded to hit the ice faster than you could say “toepick.”

That was not how he wanted Yurio and Victor to greet him this morning.

“Yuuri! Are you okay?” Victor called from the boards. “Yurio go help him up!”

Yurio simply rolled his eyes. “He’s fine you idiot.”

Yuuri pulled himself to his feet. He was fine. That was nothing. The only thing that was damaged was his pride. He reluctantly skated towards the pair at the boards. “Heh, sorry about that. I didn’t hear you two come in. I’ll uhh… let you get ready for your class now.” He seriously felt awkward, and when he felt awkward, he felt anxious, and when he felt anxious his anxiety started to show in his voice. He put his glasses back on and kept himself from saying any more by focusing on grabbing his guards and sliding them on as he stepped off the ice.

Yurio took this moment to strike. The blond had been holding his emotions back for far too long and without warning, he pounced.

“You _asshole_!!” he shouted, winding up and delivering a swift kick to Yuuri’s face, completely ignoring Victor’s cries for him to stop. Yuuri’s glasses went flying and he was pretty sure they had been cracked by the force. His nose certainly had been. He was biting back tears as Yurio prepped for another blow, this time from above. Yurio’s kick had not only caused his glasses to fly off, but also sent Yuuri tumbling backwards, his backside landing squarely on the ice. “How _dare_ you fucking disappear like you did! You have  _no idea_ what damage you caused! Fuck you, Katsuki. Fuck. You!" Despite growing physically, Yurio still had that brazen personality of his that was so prominent during his younger teen years, that was for certain.

“Yurio! Stop! Stop!” Victor shouted before the blond’s blow could connect, literally grabbing the younger Yuri and pulling him back into his lap. He was hardly able to contain the squirming mess in his arms. “Stop it. Let him be,” Victor practically growled. His tone hadn’t been this harsh in ages. It sent shivers down Yuuri’s spine, and seemed to have somewhat of an effect on Yurio, who began to relax slightly in the older male’s grip. “Get ready to run your programs. Now. You lay one hand on him and I am barring you from competition and leaving you to deal with the consequences, you understand me?”

Yurio shot him a death glare and huffed, climbing off of him once he was released. He grabbed his bag and shot off towards the locker rooms, wanting to be as far away from the both of them as possible.

As soon as Yurio was out of sight and earshot, Victor’s expression melted to one of genuine concern. “Are you okay, Yuuri? I’m so sorry. I should have been faster, I--”

“I’m fine, Victor,” Yuuri replied as he pulled himself into a standing position, although his voice was laced with pain, anxiety, and a hint of embarrassment. He reached a hand up to touch his nose and winced, regretting that decision immediately and pulling away to find his fingertips stained with blood.

Victor was already reaching into his jacket pocket for a handkerchief. “Yuuri,” he spoke in a quiet, gentle voice as he leaned forward in his chair, “touching or no? Can I help you clean up?”

Yuuri shook his head wildly, the action doing nothing but intensifying his rapidly-growing headache. “N-No!” he exclaimed, although it probably came out a little more strongly than he intended. He wasn’t quite sure he could handle being touched right now after what had just transpired. “No,” he repeated, this time much quieter. “I-I’ve got it. I’ll just go wash up. Be right back?” Yuuri forced a smile, even though it killed his poor face to do so.

Victor nodded. “I am sorry for Yurio’s actions, Yuuri. I can assure you he will be properly reprimanded. I won’t let him touch you, I promise.” He meant it too. He was beyond pissed at Yurio right now. “Are you sure you’re okay? Do you need a doctor?”

Yuuri probably did but the last thing he wanted right now was to leave, as strange as that sounded. “No, no doctor. Some ice, maybe?” he shrugged.

Another nod from Victor. “I’ll get you some.”

With that, the two parted. Victor gripped the rims of his wheels and headed off towards the snack area, while Yuuri, after plucking his glasses up off the floor(which were indeed cracked, damn it all), slowly walked towards the nearest bathroom to examine the damage and wash off the blood that was slowly drying against his skin.

* * *

 Of course the bathroom had to be connected to the locker room. Of fucking course.

* * *

Yuuri Katsuki didn’t even register the form behind him until he had shut the water off and the clicking of skate guards against the floor became all the more prominent. Looking up into the mirror, he could make out the rather blurry form of Yuri Plisetsky behind him and he couldn’t help but wince slightly, concern over being alone with the younger male flooding his entire being.

“I’m not going to fucking kick you again, so you can fucking relax, okay?” Yurio growled, practically tossing his bag on the counter between two of the sinks before proceeding to dig through it as if he was looking for something. “I’m still fucking pissed at your ass for running off like you did; you have no idea what you put him through.”

Yuuri’s anxiety suddenly flared to anger, but he managed to keep it in check for the most part as he turned his head to the right to focus on Yurio. He couldn’t believe that they were practically at eye level. In fact, Yurio had a few inches on him. “And he didn’t put me through anything, is that right?” he asked, a fierce bite dripping in his voice.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Yurio spat right back as he all but yanked a small black bag out of his much larger skate bag that he had been rifling through for the better part of the last few moments.

“Then why did you just--”

“I don’t want to fucking talk about it, you fucking shithead. If you want to fix things with him then talk to _him,_ not me!” Yurio yelled, dropping the small bag in favor of slamming his hands against the counter, causing Yuuri to recoil slightly. He slowly began to regain his composure, taking deep breaths as he picked up the bag again and unzipped it. “I just wanted to let you know how pissed I am at _everything_ , okay?”

Yuuri was silent, letting his words sink in before nodding and muttering a soft “okay” in response. He reached for his glasses and carefully, very carefully slipped them onto his face.

“So get the fuck out of my face before I change my mind about not kicking you again.”

Yuuri didn’t need to be told twice. He didn’t even look back as he left the bathroom and returned to where Victor sat waiting with an ice pack.

“Yuuri! I have an ice pack for you! And some painkillers if you need them.” He held out the small pill bottle along with a bottle of water.

“Just the ice pack is fine,” Yuuri said softly, taking it from Victor and sitting down on one of the benches along the rink, sighing a sigh of relief as he lifted the pack to his face and felt the cool ice touch his skin.

“I am truly sorry, Yuuri.”

“It’s okay. You can’t control what he does. No one can.”

“I suppose...”

The two sat in silence, Yuuri wracking his brain over his brief encounter with Yurio in the bathroom just a moment ago. He wanted to ask Victor – to talk with him some more about everything that had transpired between them – but that opportunity had vanished almost instantaneously, because Yurio had of course picked that very moment to storm over to Victor and practically throw his music key at the silver-haired man and then rather unceremoniously drop his bag on one of the benches.

“Let’s get this the fuck over with,” Yurio growled, setting his sports drink on the boards with much more force than any of them expected after he removed his guards and stepped out onto the ice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lots of establishing still. I'm slowly working my way up to some of the more dramatic moments in this story, but there is still a lot that needs to happen beforehand. I have a lot of the major events in my head; it's just a matter of connecting them all in a coherent and cohesive manner. Needless to say I have a feeling this thing is going to be very long.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Which Yuuri gets Recruited, and has a Moment of Recollection

Yuuri continued to hold the ice pack to his face, watching Yurio’s display of frustration with curious eyes. He really, really wanted answers, but something told him that he wouldn’t be getting them as quickly as he had hoped. No, not when Yurio was busy causing a scene at the boards, and especially due to the fact that the class that he and Victor were to teach was going to start soon. Before that though, Yurio was going to skate his programs. Yuuri was surprised there was still time after all that had transpired. In all honesty, as pissed as he was about the whole situation, he really was interested in seeing how Yurio’s skating had evolved the past few years. Yurio was incredible when he had competed against Yuuri, and Yuuri knew that Yurio would only continue to improve from there. And with Victor as his coach now… he was surely a force to be reckoned with. Yuuri would soon find out if that hypothesis was indeed correct.

Victor transferred himself to the bench and queued up the music, making sure he had the right song selected before calling to Yurio who was already halfway across the rink, preparing to warm up for a bit before running his programs.

“Yuri! Wait a moment! Come here, please!”

Yuuri almost got up himself, but stopped himself when he realized that Victor was speaking to Yurio. He wasn’t used to hearing Yurio being called anything other than his nickname. To say it was a bit of a shock to the system would be an understatement.

Yurio turned, skating towards the boards and approaching will a well-timed T-Stop. “What?” he glared, clearly angry that Victor was stopping him from warming up and then getting these damn programs over with.

“Now now, don’t be angry, Yuri. There are just a few things I want to go over before we start.”

“Yeah yeah don’t flutz the goddamn lutz, I know. You told me _how_ many times on the way in?” he spat.

Victor just laughed. “Yes yes, please bring that outside edge back from wherever it decided to go on its vacation. But that isn’t what I wanted to ask you.”

“Then what the fuck is it?” That’s when it hit him, and when it did, the palm of his hand found a new home on his face in a flash. “I’m running a little high if that’s what you’re fucking looking for. I just checked.”

Victor simply grinned and nodded. “I thought so. You’re much crankier than usual.”

“It’s not just _that_!” Yurio hissed, balling his fists and sending a glare that was intense enough to melt ice in Yuuri’s direction. 

“I know, I know. But please put aside your differences and focus on your program for now, okay?” He paused, making sure he had Yurio’s full attention before continuing to quiz the younger male. “You disconnected?”

“Of course I fucking disconnected. Everything would get fucked up if I fucked around with it. And I hate wearing the fucking thing when I skate. It gets in the fucking way.” Victor simply sighed, trying to count the number of F-bombs that Yurio had spouted over the past several minutes. He really needed to work with Yurio on his vocabulary, but unfortunately that would have to wait until later. At least he didn’t curse like this around the students. That proved that he had some sort of filter. He was just very picky about when exactly it activated.

“Yeah, we tried all that before, didn’t we?”

Yuuri just stared straight ahead like a deer in headlights. He had no idea what the two of them were talking about and it didn’t feel right to him to butt in and ask. He hadn’t been involved in either of their lives for years. It wasn’t right to try to jump in now.

“Yep, but of course you wouldn’t fucking remember.”

Another smile from Victor. He remembered. He was just trying to ensure consistency in the boy’s practices. “Go warm up. We’ll run your programs in just a bit.”

* * *

 

The warmup came and went and soon Yurio was skating his programs like he had never skated them before. Victor had to chuckle to himself. It was clear that Yuuri’s presence had done nothing but propel Yurio’s performance to another level. He was far more focused than he had been in previous practices, and was really doing his utmost to put every bit of critique Victor had thrown at him into action. It did please Victor immensely to see Yurio concentrating like he was.

For Yuuri, however, it wasn’t a pleasant sight. It was almost as if the blond was challenging him – challenging him to get back onto the ice and settle all of their differences out there. There was also a level of arrogance to his performance – a sort of “look at me and what you could have achieved had you stayed with Victor” vibe to the whole thing. And finally, it almost seemed as if Yurio was insulting Yuuri – as if he was guilting him and drilling it into his head that “if you hadn’t left it would be Victor out on the ice right now. He would still be skating. He would be able to compete. He would be able to physically teach these kids. He would be able to go about his day to day life with far less difficulty than he had now. But no, you just had to go and ruin it, didn’t you? Stupid Katsudon.” Yuuri hadn’t felt this exposed in ages. It wasn’t his fault. He knew that. But watching Yurio now… all he could feel was guilt welling up inside him, threatening to spill over and consume him.

Yurio finished his final spin combination of his FS and skated over to the boards, grabbing for his drink with shaking hands and downing as much of it as he could in one gulp, all the while glaring daggers at Yuuri Katsuki. He turned his attention to Victor. “Well?”

“Yuri I do believe that was your best run through yet, and you didn’t even flutz this time. Good, good. Now if you can just keep up that kind of energy during the rest of your practices, I would very much appreciate it.” Victor responded, grinning that stupidly obnoxious grin of his. He was practically beaming. “There is a spot on the top of that podium just waiting for you to grace it with your presence!”

“No shit.”

“How are you feeling? I know that was a lot in one go.” It really was. Usually they would take a break in between warm up and each program, but due to their time constraint Victor had Yurio do everything back to back in rapid fire succession.

Yurio shrugged. “I’m fine.”

Victor didn’t press the subject any further. “Good. Our students will be here soon. Why don’t you take a break until we have to start the class?”

A nod from the blond. “Da.” With that, he grabbed his drink, grabbed his guards, and stepped off the ice. Yurio plucked up his bag, resisted the urge to throw something at Yuuri, and made his way back to the locker room. He wanted to put as much distance as he could between himself and that fucking Katsudon.

Victor scooted himself to the edge of the bench to transfer himself back into his chair, and then he proceeded to make himself comfortable. As Victor moved Yuuri really took the time to get a good look at him and his new equipment. It was very sleek, compact, and probably measured and designed to perfectly fit Victor’s frame. The minimalist style of this chair was vastly different from the bulky ones that a person could find littering the halls at hospitals. The frame was black, as was the seat, which looked extremely cushioned and comfortable. Instead of footrests that folded down, it had two parallel footbars that were slightly spread apart to support Victor’s feet. Yuuri also noticed that it didn’t have push handles. Victor had never liked other people pushing him around, in the metaphorical or literal sense of the term.

As Yuuri watched, his mind couldn’t help but wander to questions that were probably better off left ignored. Exactly how bad was Victor’s injury? It was permanent – Yuuri knew that much – but exactly how different was Victor’s daily routine now from what it had been before he got hurt? _How_ exactly did he get hurt? Did he have any feeling below his point of injury? Any sensation at all? Was he able to feel temperature? Pain? Pleasure? The voice in Yuuri’s head gasped. Could he still have sex? Victor had always been such a highly sexual being. Even during the beginning stages of their relationship it became quite obvious quite quickly that Victor had an extremely high sex drive, and that he was far more experienced in that department than Yuuri ever was. The only person that Yuuri had ever been with was Victor, and Victor had been so incredibly patient and beyond respectful when it came to that sort of thing. He never rushed Yuuri or made him feel guilty when he wasn’t quite in the mood. He simply waited, allowing Yuuri to take his time and initiate when he was ready. Yuuri couldn’t have asked for a better lover at the time. He just wished that everything didn’t fall apart the way it did. Yuuri had to wonder if their differing sex drives played a role in the events leading up to Victor’s infidelity and Yuuri’s subsequent departure from his life. It was yet another one of those things that would pop up during arguments. Victor had felt unloved and unsatisfied and Yuuri, due to all of his stress, could do nothing but continuously refuse him. But still, even with all that had transpired, if Victor had indeed lost the ability to have a sexual life… well, that was something that Yuuri didn’t believe was fair at all.

“Yuuri, are you alright? Is your nose still hurting? I still have those painkillers if you need them.” Victor informed him after getting settled in his chair and approaching his ex. Yuuri had seemingly spaced out for a bit, and Victor was concerned that the other male was in pain.

“Huh?” Yuuri blinked, snapping out of his thoughts before settling his eyes on Victor’s. “O-Oh, n-no, I’m fine. Sorry, I guess I just spaced out for a second. That, uhh… Yurio’s programs… they were a lot to take in,” he half-lied. They were a lot to take in, but that wasn’t what had been on his mind just now.

“Yes, he has been steadily improving as of late. It’s been a bumpy road for him, I won’t lie. He’s had some unfortunate obstacles to overcome in the last few short years.” Yurio really had dealt with a lot in such a short period of time. Between a growth spurt and some recent developments involving the younger male’s health, there was a lot that Yurio and Victor had to adjust and adapt to along the way. On one hand Victor hurt that Yurio was dealing with so much, but on the other hand it was nice to not feel alone in his struggles. As much as they bickered and as much as Yurio fought him over the most miniscule things in the grand scheme of life, Victor was glad that he found support in Yurio, and that Yurio had found support in him. Victor was also glad that Yurio had been able to open up to Otabek about his struggles too. Yurio tended to bottle up so much, and that did nothing but make him tense up even further. It was good that he felt comfortable enough to let his guard down and relax around Beka. Yurio needed another source of comfort outside of just Victor and his grandfather.

Yuuri listened carefully, deciding not to press the issue if Victor didn’t want to elaborate. From simply overhearing the two of them earlier, it was clear that Yurio was dealing with a few things, and knowing Yurio, he would end up kicking Yuuri even harder had Yuuri pressed for and found out more information than Yurio wanted to provide to him. “I see. I hope he’s doing okay now.”

Victor nodded. “He is doing quite we--” he cut himself off as the sound of chattering filled his ears. “Oh! It sounds like our wonderful students have arrived!” he exclaimed excitedly. “Yuuri, you are welcome to stay and watch the class. We’ll be teaching the littles first this morning!”

“Sure.” It wasn’t as though he had anywhere else to be.

“Good, good!” Victor pulled his phone out and shot a text to Yurio who was still hiding in the locker room, letting him know that the kids had arrived. His phone vibrated a moment later with Yurio’s confirmation that he was on the way to meet them. “Come, let’s go greet them! Yurio will be joining us soon!” With that, he gripped his wheels and made his way out to the lobby to introduce himself to the students.

* * *

 

Victor excitedly introduced himself and Yurio to the class, and even ended up including Yuuri in the introductions as well. Apparently that was just the beginning of Yuuri being roped into assisting with the events of the day. Not a moment after Victor had introduced his friend Yuuri to the group was Yuuri put to work, helping to put tiny skates on tiny feet and to tie up laces nice and tight. Between the three of them, all of the kids got their skates on in record time.

“Now,” Victor announced, fully in coach mode but still dialed back a little(okay, a lot) for the kids. “before we step out onto the ice I want you all to work on a few exercises off ice with the three of us. My friends Yuuri and Yurio will demonstrate for you all, and all you need to do is copy what they do! Simple, da?” he smiled. The kids nodded and cheered excitedly in response.

“Okay! First and most important thing to learn is how to sit down and stand up on the ice safely,” Victor informed them. “To sit down, reach your arms out in front of you and bend your knees really deep! Then sit down to the side. We don’t want to fall on our knees or our elbows.” Yurio and Yuuri both demonstrated the proper method of sitting down safely and the children copied their movements. “And then, to get back up, we roll over on our hands and knees and put one of our toepicks in the ice and use that to puuush us up to a standing position!” Victor was extra dramatic in his explanation while Yuuri and Yurio once again demonstrated the proper way to stand back up. “Wonderful job! Try it once again with Yuuri and Yurio and then try by yourselves!” Victor watched as the process unfolded, the children getting the hang of it rather quickly.

“Now that we are comfortable with sitting down and standing up, let’s try moving like we will when we get on the ice, okay?” Victor explained once they had all stood back up. “When we’re walking on the ice for the first time we need to remember to keep our knees nice and bent and our arms outstretched to the side. Press down with your hands to help keep your balance and then lift up your knees and march, like you’re stomping bugs on the ground! Yes, just like that!” he encouraged as the children practiced alongside the two Yuris. “Perfect, everyone! Are you all ready to get on the ice now?” A chorus of enthusiastic “yeah”s filled the room. “Let’s go!”

* * *

 

The class continued on the ice, with Yuuri once again assisting Yurio while Victor called out instructions from the boards. Victor was glad to see that Yurio was at least pretending to tolerate Yuuri’s presence. The filter had been applied, so it seemed, and Yurio was in professional mode. His concentration was on the children and their class, not on kicking that Katsudon in the face.

Yuuri was only half paying attention to the lesson, his mind once again choosing to wander into uncharted territory. Watching these children marching on the little X’s that Yurio had drawn on the ice made his heart ache for what could have been his life right now. He and Victor both had wanted children so badly. It was yet another topic of discussion that gave way to arguments towards the end of their relationship. He had wanted nothing more than to finally marry Victor and eventually settle down and adopt a child. He wished more than anything that that would have been their future instead of this.

* * *

 

“ _Again? But Victor, we’ve postponed the wedding twice already!”_ Yuuri all but yelled in his fiance’s direction. He was starting to seriously wonder what the hell Victor had against marrying him in the first place.

Victor huffed, a frustration-induced headache forming as their “talk” seemed to escalate into an argument. _“Why are you making this out to be my fault, Yuuri? You’re the one that wanted to compete for another season, and I can already tell you that planning a wedding in the middle of training is going to be too much for the both of us!”_ Some people may have been able to do it, but knowing how the both of them tended to react to stress, in their particular case, it was not a good idea to try to do both things at once. Victor knew that all too well. From experience. 

“ _Why can’t we at least try? I’m tired of putting it off, Victor!”_ He wanted to be married already. This was ridiculous.

Victor understood. He really did. He wanted nothing more than to get married as well. If it were up to him he would just drag Yuuri down to the courthouse and sign the papers and be done with it, but Yuuri didn’t want to go that route, even if it meant having a large ceremony later to celebrate. No, he wanted it to all be part of one special event. There was no changing his mind on the matter. _“We did try!”_ Victor yelled. _“Last season! We almost had to drop out of competing because you couldn’t handle the stress.”_ And that was with them competing on the same team. This season they would be competing solo, and against each other. _“You have been in this industry long enough to know how much of a nightmare it would have been if we dropped out, especially over something as silly as wedding plans! Think about the disappointment you would bring to the fans, the sponsors, our competitors, the organizers…_ _e_ _veryone! Yuuri, you can’t do that to people!”_

Yuuri could have sworn he saw red in that moment. _“So now the thought of us getting married is silly? And fans and sponsors are more important to you than I am?”_ he shouted right back, absolutely seething at this point. _“_ _So it is all about your stupid ego after all, huh? The great Victor Nikiforov has to keep up his fucking appearances, is that right?”_

Victor let out a string of curses in Russian before switching to English and locking eyes with his fiance. “ _I never said any of that and you know it! Don’t you dare snap at me when you yourself made the decision to compete for one more season, knowing full well that it meant some of our plans would be on the back burner.”_

“ _I changed my mind!”_

“ _You already committed, Yuuri! We’re slated to compete! This is a job and you have to take it seriously! I thought you were a professional but you’re still such a child.”_ As far as Victor was concerned, this was something they had to do. Unless they had a devastating injury or illness that rendered them unable to compete, they would compete. They made the decision to do so and they were to stick to it. Yuuri could call it an ego thing all he wanted, but it was a professional’s resolve more than anything.

Yuuri stood up from the chair he was sitting in so quickly that it almost made his head spin. _“That’s rich coming from you. You’re always the one who is behaving like a child. Maybe we don’t even need to consider adopting since I clearly already have a kid of my own.”_

“ _Oh so I’m the child now?”_ This entire situation was such a stupid thing to be arguing about in the first place.

“ _You’re throwing a tantrum like one.”_

“ _You started i--”_ Victor cut himself off and grabbed his coat. _“You know what, I can’t take this right now. I’m going out.”_

“ _Where?”_

“ _Training! I’m going to get ready for the season.”_ He slipped his shoes on, grabbed his skate bag, and opened the front door. _“Don’t cry when you lose to me.”_ With that, Victor slammed the door shut behind him.

Yuuri crumbled.

* * *

 

Thinking back on everything now, it was an incredibly stupid argument. In fact, it was one of many incredibly stupid arguments. There was nothing wrong with waiting until they finished one more season to get married. Yuuri knew that. But with everything that the two of them had been dealing with, it seemed like even the tiniest of talks turned into argumentative explosions that had no basis in fact or rationality.

He really wanted to talk to Victor some more about everything. Maybe after class.

“All right, who wants to play a game of Simon Says?” Victor called out, snapping Yuuri from his thoughts. The two Yuris had more work to do it seemed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally an update! I've been so busy lately lol. 
> 
> Still lots of establishment, but a little glimpse into some of what Yuuri and Victor had been dealing with before the breakup. And a little look into Yurio's story so far. Like I said before, this is going to be very long I can just tell. 
> 
> I always tell the kids I teach at the rink to pretend they're stomping bugs on the ice when they're learning how to march. Drawing little X's on the ice for them to step on is a great way to get them to get comfortable with things. I also like to draw circles for them to trace to practice swizzles and parallel lines for two foot glides. Put it all together and you have an obstacle course. Then I like to review everything we learned with games. I think Victor would do something similar. He would do anything to make sure learning how to skate was a fun experience for these kids.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Which Yurio Loses his Cool(Again)

The children’s class came and went in the blink of an eye. It made sense that it was much shorter than the more intensive intermediate and advanced levels that were to take place later on. There was only so much they could teach the absolute beginners, and their little attention spans would only function for so long. Yuuri did thoroughly enjoy being a part of it though, and honestly was a little sad when it was all said and done. While he kept a smile on his face as he bid his goodbyes to the parents and children, on the inside he was hurting. He really hoped that one day he would have a child that he could teach skating to. He and Victor had both desired that so strongly. Speaking of Victor, as frustrated as he was with him(okay, and Yurio too, especially for kicking him earlier), he really didn’t want to leave them. They had intermediate and advanced classes next though, and he was sure that he wouldn’t be needed for that. Yuuri figured that he wouldn’t be much help anyway, considering he hadn’t been properly on the ice in three years.

That’s why he was even more surprised when Victor dropped the bomb on him.

“Yuuri! Would you like to stay and help us with the rest of the classes for today?” Victor asked, his eyes practically lighting up at the prospect of Yuuri potentially saying yes. Yurio rolled his eyes. Of course that old man would ask him that. While Yurio didn’t approve, he didn’t have any place to argue. Victor would just end up chewing him out anyway. The man was less like a coach and more like a parent in that respect. He really wanted that Katsudon to turn Victor’s offer down though. The less time they were around each other, the better. Thank fuck he and Victor were leaving the next morning. At least that meant that he would be away from Katsuki for good.

Yuuri’s brown eyes widened slightly behind his glasses in surprise. “Are you sure? It’s been so long since I’ve been on the ice…”

“Of course I’m sure, Yuuri! I wouldn’t have asked if I felt otherwise. You did such a wonderful job with the kids, so I wanted to extend the invitation! And besides, from what I saw of your practice this morning, you will do just fine in assisting us.”

“O-Okay, if you’re sure.”

“Absolutely positive!”

“I don’t have all of my jumps back...” he muttered. He hadn’t even attempted anything beyond a single jump, and he didn’t even bother touching his lutz or axel this morning. How was he going to help teach intermediate to advanced students who were working on singles through triples if he couldn’t even do them himself?

Victor shook his head. “Not to worry, Yuuri. You can just teach what you can, if you’d like, and Yurio here can take on the rest of the demonstrations.” It would work out just fine. Having two teachers on the ice would actually be quite helpful. If anything, he could put Yuuri on harness duty. Sometimes he had to forego using the harness altogether due to the fact that it would take too long for Yurio to get students in and out of it, and the students that weren’t in the harness were more neglected. All they could really do was practice by themselves with just Victor’s instructions from the boards. Yurio couldn’t operate the harness and demonstrate jumps, spins, moves in the field, or footwork at the same time. With Yuuri there, he could work with students on the harness while Yurio kept the rest busy as they waited their turn. And of course Victor could still nag everyone from the boards. He grinned. It was the perfect system.

“Okay, if it’s not a problem… I’d really like to stick around a bit longer.”

“That’s the Yuuri I know!” Victor exclaimed rather triumphantly, shutting up an alarm on his watch just a moment later. “Now, we have a bit of a break before our next group of students arrives, so why don’t you both take this time to relax and prepare? I’m going to run to the restroom.” He turned to Yurio. “Please try not to kill him while I’m gone. Remember what we talked about earlier.” Victor was dead serious. If Yurio tried anything, he would pull him from competing and leave him to clean up the mess.

“Fucking hell I won’t kill him just hurry it the fuck up!” Yurio shoved his hands in the pockets of his Russia jacket rather defiantly as he spoke. “Don’t forget that I have shit to do too.” Yurio was planning on ducking back into the locker room as soon as Victor returned. He wasn’t about to try and go now in case the shitty Katsudon decided to follow him in there like an idiot.

Victor gave him a reassuring look. “I won’t be long, just relax.” With that, his hands found the rims of his wheels and he made his way off to the bathroom.

Yurio flopped onto a bench and huffed, as if daring Yuuri to say anything to him. Yuuri took a seat on a nearby bench and glanced towards Victor’s retreating form, then back to Yuri Plisetsky. “He seems like he’s doing well,” Yuuri muttered, thinking back to his interactions with Victor as well as Victor working with the children just now. He seemed so happy. The more time Yuuri spent around Victor, the more he saw Victor’s old personality peeking through the haze of uncertainty that seemed to hover over him. He had to admit it was refreshing.

“No thanks to you,” was Yurio’s curt response. “You really fucked him up.”

“Once again,” Yuuri stated, exasperation flooding his tone of voice, “how is it my fault?”

“Once again,” Yurio repeated, mockingly, “talk to him, not me. All I’m saying is that he would probably still be fucking walking if you didn’t walk out on him like you did. You have no idea the hell he’s been through since you left.” Yurio had witnessed it first hand, having stuck by Victor’s side throughout all of it, even moving in with the older male after the accident to help with his recovery. “Everything’s changed. You heard his watch go off just now. Can’t even take a piss without it being fucking scheduled. It sucks.” Yurio’s own life had become much more regimented as of late but it was nothing compared to the rigorous schedule that Victor had to adhere to. Day to day life had become so much more involved for Victor. As pissed off as Yurio was about his own situation, he would much rather endure that than everything Victor had to deal with.

Yuuri was quiet for several minutes, the irrational side of his mind screaming at him, telling him it was indeed all his fault – that Victor’s change in lifestyle was his doing. The rational side of his mind was trying to fight it – desperately trying to convince him that he had done nothing wrong. A war was waging in his head, and he was desperately trying to quell the beginnings of another anxiety attack.

“I’m going to the locker room,” Yurio announced as he stood up, walking towards the locker room just as Victor emerged from the bathrooms.

* * *

 

The blond plopped down on one of the locker room benches and sighed, leaning over, head in his hands as he tried to calm himself down. He honestly was beyond pissed at this point, and didn’t really know why. Katsuki had no idea what Victor had endured, and now that he was waltzing back into Victor’s life like this… it made him see red. Yurio had been there for Victor the entire time, even going so far as to move in with the man after he had been injured. Katsuki had no right barging in like this. At this point he considered Victor to be his closest friend, and the last thing he wanted was to see his closest friend hurt again, especially by someone that he had once loved. As he shrugged off his jacket and dug through his bag, he could only pray that he didn’t end up killing that fucking Katsudon.

* * *

 

“Yuuri! Are you ready for class? It’s almost ti--” Victor cut himself off at the sight before him. Yuuri looked deathly pale, and his breathing was beginning to quicken. “Is everything okay?” Yuuri looked as though he was on the verge of a mental breakdown. “Did Yurio say something to upset you? Can you look at me?” Brown eyes soon met sky blue ones. Victor wanted nothing more than to make sure Yuuri was all right. “Yuuri, touching or no?” he asked, softening his voice to that of a gentle ripple once again as he reached a gloved hand out, ready to be there physically if that was what Yuuri wished.

Yuuri nodded quickly, reaching his hand out to meet Victor’s. Victor once again rubbed gentle circles on the back of Yuuri’s hand with his thumb. “Victor...” Yuuri whispered, trying not to let a sob choke out. “If this… if any of this is my fault...” he gestured to the wheelchair with his free hand, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I never wanted – I never wanted _this._ ”

Victor’s expression fell. “Yuuri, I promise that none of this was your fault.” A pause. “I… made a mistake is all. A-Another one,” he shrugged, trying to laugh a little to hopefully lighten the mood a bit. “I suppose I’m not exactly the poster boy for good decisions,” he joked. “You know that I like to do things my way. When do I not do that? Unfortunately in that particular case, doing something my way got me into trouble.” He took Yuuri’s hands in both of his. “Please don’t feel guilty. Can you do that for me?”

“I… I’ll try.” It was honestly easier said than done, but he would do his utmost to not let Yurio get to him too much.

Victor smiled a genuine smile and nodded. “Thank you, Yuuri. I promise we’ll talk more about this later… if you want to, that is.” He could hear the chattering of students once again. “For now, we have a class to run.” Not to mention, Yurio had returned from the locker room, drink in hand, having ditched his jacket in favor of his black short sleeved practice shirt and black practice pants.

“Yeah, you’re right.” He would like to talk to him some more. He just hoped that he would have the chance.

* * *

 

Yuuri had indeed been put on harness duty for the jump portion of the class. While one student was working in the harness with Yuuri, the rest would be working on the ice with Yurio. Yurio instructed them on technique, gave a few demonstrations(even threw in a few quads just for the fun of it), and critiqued everyone’s work in the process. Victor was seated in the hockey box, giving instruction and critique to all of the students, as well as keeping them all on a schedule to make sure they went through every element that was planned for the day. It was a good system, and seemed to work quite well. They took a ten minute break every hour, and naturally Yurio bolted to the locker room during each and every one of those breaks. Yuuri honestly didn’t really get it. By the time Yurio got back there he just had to turn around and return to the class. It was easier just to stay put and rest on the benches that sat alongside the ice. Not only that but Victor seemed to be really interested in whether or not the boy was doing okay every time he returned. Yuuri didn’t think he had _that_ much of an effect on Yurio.

After jumps came spins and then footwork, with Yuuri even getting in there towards the end and teaching the students some of his old step sequences. Victor couldn’t help but smile. It brought back memories of such a wonderful time. As happy as it made him to see Yuuri skating again, it also didn’t change the fact that there was still such a dark cloud hanging over the two of them – one that he wasn’t sure would ever clear up. Still, he would cherish these moments when the sunlight peeked through. Even if the two of them never rekindled their relationship, it still made his heart light to see Yuuri once again enjoying one of his passions.

During the last few hours, the three choreographed a program for the students. This was Victor’s favorite part. He loved to give back to these skaters. Not only did they get an intensive workshop with himself and Yurio(and Yuuri too), but they got to take home a program that was choreographed by them as well. It was a little treat for them, and something that could help encourage them to practice their elements. Sometimes it was boring to work on the same elements over and over again. There was something to be said for being able to run them all with music(and it was even more of a bonus knowing that the program you were running was choreographed by Victor Nikiforov and Yuri Plisetsky-- with special guest Yuuri Katsuki today). These kids had plenty of programs under their belts, but this was something special.

* * *

 

Yuuri was slightly disappointed when all of their work had finished for the day, but his disappointment soon dissipated when Victor approached after the students had left and proceeded to ask him if he would like to join him and Yurio for dinner that evening. Yuuri didn’t even think before replying with the affirmative(something that pissed Yurio off to no end), and before they knew it, the three of them had piled into the car and arrived at a rather fancy(honestly he didn’t really expect anything but fancy when it came to Victor) restaurant.

“Feel free to order anything you’d like, Yuuri, as repayment for helping out today,” Victor reassured him after he got settled in a booth. He was about to take his chair apart and set the pieces beside him when Yurio gave him a look that just screamed ‘what the fuck are you doing’. Victor chuckled, patting the seat next to him, allowing the younger blond to slide in beside him. “Can you at least disassemble that and set it beside Yuuri, then?” Victor asked Yurio, his eyes resembling that of a begging puppy dog rather than a world famous figure skater.

Yurio huffed, more frustrated that he had to get back up than anything else. “Yeah yeah.” In a flash, he had it taken apart and set beside Yuuri before Yuuri even had the time to really comprehend what was happening. He stored the wheels right under the table, trying to keep everything out of the pathway of servers and other restaurant patrons. Yurio really seemed to know what he was doing. It made Yuuri wonder how much time the two of them had spent together, exactly. He did know one thing, though. Yurio was making it damn clear that he didn’t want Yuuri anywhere near Victor.

Yuuri decided to distract himself by scanning over the menu, finally settling on a moderately priced meal. He didn’t want Victor to feel like he was taking advantage of his kindness. Yurio and Victor soon ordered as well, with Yurio standing up a moment after ordering. “I’m going to the bathroom,” he announced, his hands shoved in his pockets as he stormed off.

“I keep telling him that he can just do that at the table. No one cares,” Victor muttered to himself before turning his attention to Yuuri. “So Yuuri, did you enjoy helping us teach today? I really appreciate all of your assistance.”

Yuuri took a sip of his water and nodded. “Yeah, it was fun. Thank you for letting me help out today.”

“Any time. It was nice to see you out there on the ice again.” It really was. He missed seeing Yuuri skate.

Yuuri gave him a little shrug. “I don’t think it’s going to become a regular thing though. I gave that up a long time ago.”

“It’s a shame. Your skating is still strong, Yuuri.” Victor only got to see a bit of his elements this morning, but from what he had seen, Yuuri still had it in him.

“Don’t even think about getting back into it, Katsudon,” Yurio growled as he sat back down next to Victor. “The last thing I need is you following this idiot around.”

“Yuri!” Victor hissed. “Remember what we talked about earlier. Don't make me pull you from competition.” He was getting fed up with Yurio’s attitude.

Yurio simply rolled his eyes. “How much longer until food gets here?”

Victor shrugged. “We just put the order in, Yuri, it might be a few minutes. Have a few sips of my soda if you need it.”

A few minutes came and went, with Yurio grumbling about food every now and then and Yuuri and Victor making small talk. Yuuri really wished that he was able to talk to Victor some more about… well, them, but with Yurio here, he couldn’t see that happening any time soon. It was a shame, really.

A ping from his phone caught his attention, and he checked it to find a text from his mother. She must have just woken up. Since it was pretty late here it was early morning back home. She was checking in on him, asking if he had gone to the rink to see Victor. He sent a quick text to let her know that yes, he did decide to go, but no, he hadn’t had a chance to talk with him about anything pertaining to their previous relationship. “Sorry, mom texted. You don’t mind, do you?” Yuuri asked Victor as he finished his text.

“Not at all,” Victor smiled.

“Get the fuck off your phone, asshole,” Yurio snapped, glancing up at Yuuri Katsuki before glancing back down below the table at… whatever the fuck he was doing.

“Yuri!”

“Funny coming from you,” Yuuri snapped right back, just as fed up with Yurio’s attitude as Victor was. “Maybe you should get off _your_ phone." The boy had been fiddling with something under the table for longer than Yuuri had been texting, that was for certain. 

Yurio had been wound tight, and that was the final straw. He unraveled and snapped his head up, bright green eyes glaring daggers at Yuuri Katsuki as he all but slammed a small, rectangular object on the table. It contained a screen, various buttons, and was attached to a thin, clear tube that disappeared beneath the table.

“Yuri be careful that was expensive,” Victor muttered, his hands over his eyes, afraid to look in the event that Yurio had indeed broken the device.

Yurio ignored Victor, his full attention on the other Yuri. “I’m _diabetic_ you _asshole._ I’m trying to not fucking die right now.”

“He’s exaggerating,” Victor piped in, which earned another eyeroll from Yurio.

That didn’t stop Yurio from continuing. “But of course you wouldn’t know that. You wouldn’t know about anything I’ve been through. You wouldn’t know about anything Victor has been through. Because you left. You fucking left and I’ve taken care of his ass. When he needed you the fucking most you were fucking gone.”

“Yuri, please, stop,” Victor was practically pleading at this point. “Yuuri had every reason to leave. Now please, can we change the subject?”

Yurio huffed. “Fine, but he’ll still never understand.”

“Then _help_ me understand,” Yuuri Katsuki begged.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This ended up going a slightly different way than I imagined, but I'm not exactly complaining. Still a really slow burn but there is at least a liiiiittle more insight into things. And a pissed off Yurio. Still working out some plot points for future chapters but next chapter is in the works so expect that sometime soon!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Which Yurio Opens Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Medical stuff in this chapter. Descriptions of bodily functions including vomiting

“We’ve been through a lot,” Yurio muttered. “I got diagnosed a little over a year ago. It sucks.” Yurio didn’t know why he was opening up like this but if it kept Katsuki from pestering Victor, he would talk all night if he had to.

“I… I see.”

“It happened during a fucking competition too. Needless to say, I lost.”

“You didn’t lose, Yuri,” Victor interjected. “You pulled out due to health issues. That is not a loss in my book.”

Yurio shrugged as he stabbed a piece of meat with his fork. “It feels like one.”

* * *

 

 _“I swear, Victor, can’t you stop somewhere I’ve got to fucking piss,”_ Yurio growled from the passenger’s seat of Victor’s rental car. The two were currently en route from their hotel to the ice rink for Yurio’s competition and despite it being less than an hour’s drive to the rink, Victor had already stopped twice so that Yurio could use the bathroom.

Victor stole a glance at the blond in his seat and could visibly see the pain in his features. He was practically squirming over there. It was strange, especially considering the fact that they had just stopped not too long ago. He focused his attention back on the road ahead, using the hand controls on the car to apply the brakes as they came to a red light. This caused Yurio to whine in discomfort. _“Is there any way you can hold it, Yuri? We’re going to be late for your event if we keep stopping.”_ They were already running slightly behind as it was, considering that Yurio had delayed their departure by quite some time due to his continuously running to the bathroom. _“We’re almost there.”_

 _“I swear I’m going to fucking piss my pants if you don’t stop,”_ Yurio exclaimed with a groan, crossing his legs for emphasis and shoving his hands between them. He hated the fact that he was sitting there holding himself like a child but he couldn’t help it. He couldn’t remember a time when he had to go this badly. He was so glad that he hadn’t changed into his outfit for his program yet.

Victor let out a sigh. He was both concerned for Yurio’s health and frustrated over the possibility of being late. It wouldn’t be the end of the world if Yurio missed his warm up, and he wasn’t scheduled to skate first, so they could make up some time there, but he really would rather Yurio make it in time for everything, just to give the boy a chance to have one more practice run before he had to skate for real. _“Okay, okay, just hold on a minute. We’ll stop at that store up ahead. Maybe next time don’t drink so much water.”_ Yurio had been drinking a ridiculously large amount of water throughout the day. Of course he would have to piss after all of that. It was important to stay hydrated, yes, but the large quantities of water Yurio had been consuming today were overkill for certain.

 _“I can’t help it if I’m fucking thirsty. And stop talking about water you dickhead!”_ Yurio practically yelled, squeezing his thighs together even tighter.

 _“Alright, we’re stopping.”_ Victor had no other choice. It was either stop or risk Yurio making a mess of their rental car. He flipped on the turn signal and pulled into the parking lot of a nearby drug store. _“Make it quick, okay?”_

Yurio didn’t even bother to humor him with a response. He bolted out of the car and slammed the door behind him and proceeded to run into the store as if his life depended on it. Yurio made it back within minutes and jumped in the car. _“Let’s go.”_

Luckily they made it the last few miles to the rink without having to stop, but as soon as they had arrived, Yurio was once again bolting to the bathroom. As Victor was getting Yurio signed in for his event he couldn’t help but wonder if the younger male was okay. Maybe he had an infection or something. He made a mental note to try to encourage Yurio to see a doctor after all of this was over. Victor gripped the rims of his chair and set his course for the nearest restroom, knowing that there was no way that Yurio had gone far with how badly he seemed to need to go. He set Yurio’s skate bag on the ground and made himself comfortable, lifting one leg and crossing it over the other and then switching legs a few minutes later as he waited outside, checking his watch every now and then to make sure they wouldn’t be late for Yurio’s warm up.

Yurio dove into the first open stall he could find, releasing his poor, desperate bladder, all the while wondering why the fuck he had to go so badly all of the sudden. Maybe he really did need to cut down on his fluid intake. At the same time though, he had been feeling extra thirsty for the past week, and so it only seemed natural that he would need to use the bathroom more often. Today, however, was the worst day so far. He finished up and stepped out of the stall to wash his hands at the sink. As he was reaching for the soap dispenser, it hit him out of the middle of nowhere. He was suddenly terribly and extremely nauseous. Sure he had been feeling slightly off for about a week or so now, but he attributed that to the stresses of traveling and training. Now that 'slightly off' feeling had evolved into something so much worse. _‘Why today?’_ the voice inside him screamed as he whipped around and practically stumbled into the stall he just had exited not a minute ago. Collapsing to his knees just in time, he leaned over the bowl, held his hair back, and retched, bringing up his breakfast in the process; his green eyes were screwed shut and squeezing out tears as he continued to heave. He absolutely despised throwing up. It was painful, embarrassing, and completely and utterly exhausting. As his stomach settled, he took a moment to lean back against the stall door and catch his breath. He could do this. All he had to do was get through a five minute warm up and then survive his program. As long as he could get through the wait without Victor finding out(the last thing he wanted was for Victor to pull him from competing today), he would be golden. Yurio gave himself a minute to make sure the nausea had passed before standing up, flushing, and exiting the stall once again, then proceeding to wash his hands and exit the bathroom.

 _“Yuri! There you are! I was starting to get worried. Are you okay?”_ Victor asked, his brows furrowing in concern. He noticed that Yurio seemed far paler than earlier.

 _“I’m fine,”_ Yurio grumbled, hoping beyond hope that he could hold it all together for just a bit longer. _“Where to?”_

 _“You’re event 86,”_ Victor informed him. _“That’ll be through those doors on rink one, and your holding pen will be locker room two.”_ Victor passed Yurio’s purple leopard print skate bag to him. _“Go ahead and get changed. You know the drill. Skates on fifteen minutes before your warm up. Don’t forget to warm up off ice as well.”_ Victor glanced at his watch and shut off a timer that was about to go off. _“I’m going to run to the restroom. I’ll come check on you before you head out for warm up, and I’ll be at the boards for the duration of your event.”_

The blond sighed an inward sigh of relief as he took his bag from Victor. Victor’s trip to the bathroom would buy him some time at least. His goal was to minimize his contact with Victor as much as he could, just in case he lost it again. He gave Victor a short, curt nod of the head in understanding which he immediately regret due to his rapidly-growing headache. He just wanted today to be over with. It had just started and he was so done with everything already. _“Da,”_ he mumbled before turning on his heel and making a beeline for the locker room.

The sight that greeted him in the locker room helped him to relax a bit. Otabek had arrived and was already changed and ready to hop on the ice when their event began. He was currently sitting on the bench and fiddling with his skates. Simply scanning over the other male’s body with those emerald eyes of his made him almost forget how shitty he had been feeling today. God, Yurio loved him so much. They only really got to see one another at competitions due to their current long distance relationship, and Yurio was always thankful beyond thankful for the time they were able to physically spend together. He set his bag down and took a moment to just admire Otabek in his SP costume – black pants and blue collared shirt that were perfectly tailored to his frame and accented with gold appliques and rhinestones. It was different from what Yurio had normally seen him in but he couldn’t deny that he liked it. _“Beka,”_ he breathed out as he finally snapped himself back to reality.

Otabek looked up and smiled that warm smile of his that was reserved just for Yurio. _“Yura. You made it,”_ he commented, standing up and walking over to hug the other male. Oh god how he wanted to kiss him right then and there but with other competitors sharing the same space as them, he decided that a simple hug in greeting was enough. For now. He wasn’t worried about their reactions or anything like that. No, he was just a private person. He had limits when it came to how much affection he showed his lover in public.

 _“Yeah, Victor took fucking forever this morning,”_ he lied, not wanting to concern Otabek with his predicament. _“You know how he always has to look perfect for these fucking things.”_

Otabek let out a huff of laughter, nearly snorting in the process(something he would never do around anyone but Yurio --the boy had an effect on him that was for certain. They both tended to let their guards down around one another). _“I wouldn’t expect anything less from him. In any case I’m glad you’re here.”_

 _“Me too,”_ Yurio smiled as he picked up his bag again. _“I’m gonna get changed,”_ he stated, probably a little more bluntly than he had intended, but he was starting to feel nauseous again and needed to get to the bathroom sooner rather than later. Luckily he did also have to get changed, so it was a good excuse. _“Be right back?”_

_“I’ll be here.”_

With that, Yurio opened the door, ducked into the bathroom that was connected to the locker room and immediately ran into the stall that was furthest from the entrance to once again kneel before the porcelain bowl and expel the contents of his stomach into it. This round was so much worse than the previous one. The dry heaves seemed to take forever to subside and by the end of it his stomach muscles were in absolute agony. He shakily stood up after catching his breath and flushed, mentally hoping and praying that he wouldn’t be sick again as he rinsed his mouth out and washed his hands in the sink. He looked up to take a good look at his face in the mirror. He was starting to _look_ sick. His skin was pale and sweaty and his bright green eyes had dulled ever so slightly. Oh how he hoped he could get through this. He dug through his bag and pulled out his SP costume: a one piece outfit with fitted black pants, shining rhinestones and red accent pieces on the sides of each leg that connected seamlessly with the dip dyed red and white ruched fabric of the flowy-sleeved shirt, which was also heavily crystalized with rhinestones. He really did like this outfit. Victor had chosen it for him. But he really wished that he didn’t have to squeeze his poor, sick body into it right now. The thought of wearing such tight fabric over his abdominal region almost made him feel ill again. Yurio sucked it up and got dressed, shoving his practice clothes into his bag and pulling out a bottle of water, trying to stay hydrated and quell his thirst(as well as give him something to throw up if he god forbid had to throw up again. Throwing up something was at least better than throwing up nothing, in his opinion) as he exited the bathroom and returned to the locker room.

 _“Welcome back,”_ Otabek smiled as he looked up from the game he was playing on his phone and met Yurio’s eyes.

 _“Thanks,”_ Yurio replied with a small smile of his own as he sat down next to Beka. _“Sorry I took so long. This stupid costume is so fucking complicated.”_

_“It looks incredible on you though.”_

_“Heh.”_

_“Want me to do your hair for you?”_

_“Please.”_ Yurio and Otabek started this not long ago. It was a way for them to share a slightly more intimate moment with one another while in public. And it was easier than doing his own hair or asking Victor to help out. Yurio also had to admit that he loved the way it relaxed him so much. Otabek set to work, brushing Yurio’s shoulder length blond hair back and working it into a ponytail complete with braids on each side. _“I’m thinking about cutting my hair,”_ Yurio stated rather out of the blue. It was a thought he had had in the back of his mind for a while now, and he needed something to distract himself from how shitty he was feeling.

Otabek stopped his motions. _“You are?”_

 _“Yeah, I’m getting taller and my aesthetic is kind of changing, you know?”_ He had a point. Yurio had grown so much already and his music and costume choices for his programs had changed and evolved as well. He was straying further and further away from the Russian Fairy aesthetic that he had in the past and was moving towards a more realized version of what he wanted to be as a skater.

 _“I think whatever you decide will be perfect.”_ Yurio was perfect now, in his opinion, but nothing would change if he cut his hair. _“I’m going to miss this though.”_

 _“Hey, who said you weren’t still going to be in charge of styling my hair?”_ Yurio grinned. Even if it was short, he would still ask Otabek to make sure it was perfect for competition. _“You’re not getting out of this at all.”_

_“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”_

Yurio opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by the sound of the door opening and Victor’s booming voice interrupting his every thought. _“Yuri! It’s almost time for your warm up! Are you ready to go? Oh hello Beka good to see you today.”_

_“I just have to get my skates on, old man.”_

_“Hello, Victor.”_

_“You should have had them on by now,”_ Victor sighed as he glanced at his watch. So Yurio got a little held up in the bathroom; not his fault. He still felt like shit. He was surprised he was able to hide it this well. _“Lace up and meet me at the boards, okay?”_

 _“Yeah, yeah.”_ With that confirmation, Victor turned to leave. Some of their competitors also made their way out a few moments after Victor, already heading to the boards so they could be on the ice when their warm up was called. Yurio got his skates and guards on in record time and stood, ready to get this the fuck over with. _“Let’s go before Victor decides to lecture me again,”_ he mumbled as he made his way across the locker room. He was halfway out the door when a hand grasped his arm and pulled him back. Otabek gently spun him around and lifted his chin, leaning in to place a gentle kiss to his lips. Oh shit, they were the only ones left in the locker room. They could do this. Yurio wrapped his arms around Beka’s neck and pressed his body against his boyfriend’s as he deepened the kiss, letting out a soft moan of frustration when Otabek broke away for air.

 _“We need to get going,”_ Beka whispered, leaning in to kiss him once more.

 _“Yeah,”_ Yurio exhaled, causing Otabek’s eyebrows to furrow a bit at the sweet, fruity smell on Yurio’s breath. Gum, maybe? Strange. He didn’t think Yurio was fond of that sort of thing. Yurio caught on to Beka’s change in expression. _“What is it?”_

Otabek shook his head. _“Nothing. You ready to go?”_

 _“Ready to kick your ass if that’s what you mean,”_ Yurio smirked, inwardly willing for his body to cooperate. It was getting harder and harder to stand up straight without wanting to collapse.

_“You’re on.”_

Otabek and Victor’s eyes were intensely focused on Yurio during the warm up. In fact, Otabek found himself paying more attention to Yurio’s practice than his own warm up while he was out on the ice with his competitors and boyfriend. Something seemed off about the young male’s skating. He appeared to be having trouble with elements that usually effortless for him, and he carried a pained expression the entire time. He wanted to ask the younger male what was going on, but that would have to wait a few more minutes. He focused on his own program, running his elements and footwork quickly before time was called and they all exited the ice.

Yurio brushed past Otabek so quickly that he thought he would be knocked over as he stepped off the ice and slipped his guards on. All Otabek registered was Victor’s concerned voice calling out to him, asking if he was okay, and Yurio responding with a shout that he was going to the bathroom. It must have really been an emergency. Yurio hadn’t even taken the time to slide his signature purple and black guards on over his blades. Thank goodness for rubber flooring. _“Is he okay?”_ Otabek asked as he turned to Victor sitting nearby.

Victor’s expression fell. _“I’m not entirely certain.”_

_“I’ll go check on him.”_

_“No, you’re up next. If he’s not out by the time you have to go on, I’ll go get him.”_ Victor wanted to respect Yurio’s privacy but he also wanted to check up on him, so he figured that was a good compromise. He knew that Yurio always wanted to watch Otabek skate, and if he didn’t show up to do just that, Victor knew that something was wrong. Not to mention that Yurio was slated to skate immediately after Beka. There was no choice but to make sure Yurio was ready when Otabek went on.

Yurio returned looking worse than before.

 _“Yuri! Are you okay?”_ Victor asked, concern flooding his features.

 _“I’m fine. Had to piss,”_ he lied. He had been sick again. _“Your stupid costume is impossible to get off, by the way.”_

Victor sighed. _“Never mind that. Are you sure that you’re up for competing? You don’t look well at all.”_

Otabek nodded in agreement. _“I’m worried about you, Yura.”_

 _“Don’t be. I’m fine. I’m going to fucking skate. Now you get out there and kick ass.”_ It was his turn after all.

Otabek nodded, gently taking Yurio’s hand and giving it a comforting squeeze before making his way out onto the ice to begin his program.

As Otabek finished his final spin and struck his ending pose, Yurio was beyond feeling just ill at this point. He felt like he was going to throw up again but there was no way he would make it there and back in time. He swallowed it down and stood at the doorway to the sheet of ice, waiting for Otabek to hop off before hopping on as his name was announced. He skated to his starting point and took his initial pose, diving headfirst into his program as soon as the music began.

The program was an absolute disaster. Victor visibly cringed, not because he was worried about this affecting Yurio’s placement score-wise – that didn’t matter – but because he was concerned for his young friend’s health. Yurio didn’t make mistakes as glaring as this unless there was something seriously wrong. He had already popped his triple axel and fell on his quad sal… and that was just the beginning of the downward spiral. His spins, while he had managed to hold onto them, had been sloppy and traveled quite the fair distance compared to how centered they were normally. The remaining jumps in his program weren’t much better. Victor was beyond worried. Something was seriously not right here.

Yurio finished his last spin, his head spinning just as much as his body had been just a moment ago. He knew that he royally fucked up, but he didn’t care. No, all he cared about was getting off the ice before he was sick again. He didn’t even take a moment to acknowledge the judges or the audience. He simply bolted, exiting the rink as if it were on fire and running towards the bathroom. Otabek and Victor were hot on his heels, entering moments later to witness Yurio collapse in front of the toilet, unable to bring up much of anything due to having vomited so much earlier. Otabek knelt down beside him, rubbing gentle circles onto his back as he heaved, his entire body shaking from the force.

 _“It’s okay, Yura. Just let it out,”_ Otabek soothed. _“You’ll be okay.”_

 _“Yuri, why didn’t you tell me you weren’t feeling well?”_ Victor asked.

 _“Didn’t want you to --”_ he heaved _“--pull me from competing,”_ Yurio finished, opening his eyes briefly before screwing them shut again as the world began to spin around him. He was so light-headed. Fuck, maybe he really was sick.

_“Your health is more important than a competition. Do you need me to call the medic?”_

_“No, I’m fine.”_ Yurio mumbled as he stood up and flushed the toilet. Otabek stood alongside him, gently taking his arm and helping to guide him out of the stall. Yurio didn’t seem to register the dark, damp stain on the crotch of his costume pants, but Otabek noticed. Thank goodness those pants were black and it wasn’t too obvious.

 _“Come on, let’s get you cleaned up,”_ Otabek encouraged softly.

Victor’s face fell at the sight of Yurio. He was so pale and looked as though he could hardly stand up. The silver-haired man backed up a bit to give Yurio and Otabek some room to approach the sinks when it happened. Yurio swayed for a moment before his knees buckled beneath him, his eyes rolling back in his head as he passed out. Thankfully Otabek was able to gently lower him to the floor, being mindful of the blades on his feet. _“Lay him on his left side,”_ Victor informed Otabek as he tossed the dark-haired male his backpack. _“And put that under his head.”_ Otabek did as he was instructed, noticing just how shallow the boy’s breathing was as he situated the backpack beneath his head. His worry was growing with each passing second.

 _“He needs a doctor,”_ Otabek informed Victor who nodded in agreement. _“I’ll go get the medic. Keep an eye on him for me.”_

 _“Hurry,”_ Victor pleaded, unable to hide his concern due to the wavering in his voice.

Luckily the medic was on site and easily accessible, and they were able to get Yurio loaded up onto a stretcher and into an ambulance in no time flat. Naturally, this caused quite the uproar in the stadium, both the competitors and audience concerned for the skater’s well-being. Victor was starting to get frustrated with being bombarded with questions from members of the press who were attending the event, and after speaking with them as well as the judges and organizers, it was decided that the competition would continue with Yurio withdrawing due to his health situation. Victor was glad for that. It would mean the boy would have a chance to rest. There was no way that Victor would allow him to compete in his free skate tomorrow, no matter what the doctors said. Speaking of the doctors, Otabek still hadn’t called him with an update. Yurio’s boyfriend had driven behind the ambulance to the hospital, while Victor stayed behind to work on damage control. He could only imagine that no news from Beka meant the doctors were still working on Yurio. God he hoped the boy was okay. Victor finished up at the rink, got himself transferred into his car, and sped to the hospital as fast as he could.

Beka was pacing up and down the waiting room when Victor arrived. _“Otabek?”_ he asked in a soft voice. _“How is he?”_

Otabek shrugged, glancing down to Victor with solemn eyes. He looked like he had been crying. Honestly, Victor was so worried that he wanted to cry too. _“I don’t know. They haven’t said anything yet. I’m worried, Victor,”_ he admitted. It didn’t take this long to diagnose a stomach bug, did it?

_“I am too. I hope we’ll hear something so--”_

_“Family of Yuri Plisetsky?”_ a soft, female voice called out from the doorway.

Victor and Otabek’s heads both jerked up in the direction of her voice. She was tall, with beautiful porcelain skin and deep brown hair that was kept in a loose braid. Her eyes were a deep chocolate brown and stood out behind a pair of simple, round rimmed glasses. She wore a simple white button up, a white lab coat, and a pair of black slacks. _“Right here,”_ Victor stated, gesturing to the two of them. _“Victor Nikiforov. I’m his coach. This is his friend, Otabek Altin.”_ Otabek nodded, not upset by Victor’s introduction at all. He actually preferred for his relationship with Yurio to be introduced to new people in a more platonic manner. He had his reasons. _“How is he?”_

She smiled a gentle smile. _“Yes, Nikolai had mentioned you both on the phone. It’s nice to meet you.”_ The hospital had already been in contact with Yurio’s grandfather who of course gave them full permission to discuss Yurio’s situation with Victor and Otabek. _“My name is Mari. I’m the doctor who has been tending to Yuri, and I will be looking after him for the duration of his stay.”_ She shifted the clipboard that she was holding into her left hand and extended her right to the two men to shake. Once introductions were completed, she led them to a secluded office down the hall to speak with them. _“He’s going to be just fine,”_ she reassured them as she took a seat at her desk. Otabek moved one of the chairs aside to make room for Victor’s before sitting down himself. _“Although he has quite the lifestyle change ahead of him.”_

 _“Lifestyle change?”_ Victor repeated, his brows furrowing slightly. He didn’t like the sound of that, especially since it sounded eerily familiar to what he had heard from doctors after his injury. He was beyond relieved to hear that Yurio would be okay though.

She nodded and passed the clipboard to Victor who took it and scanned the contents of the page clipped to it. Otabek leaned forward in his chair to get a better look. _“Yes. Yuri presented with extremely high blood sugar when he arrived, and was showing signs of diabetic ketoacidosis.”_ The two men looked at each other and then back to her with equally-confused expressions. _“What that essentially means is that there was a build up of acids in his blood due to his blood sugar rising and staying too high for too long.”_ She opted for a relatively simple explanation, and would provide them with plenty of detailed information later. _“We currently have him on fluids, electrolytes, and insulin therapy to help bring his blood sugar down and to get his body functioning properly once again. It’s a good thing you brought him in when you did. He could have easily slipped into a coma had this gone untreated for much longer. I’m afraid such a condition can even cause death in some patients.”_

Otabek and Victor both took in a sharp breath. This was serious, and it could have been so much worse had Yurio not been given the help he had needed. Victor wanted to kick himself. He should have noticed sooner that Yurio was unwell. Otabek felt just as guilty for not seeing it sooner either.

 _“So…. what – where do we go from here?”_ Otabek asked as he ran a shaky hand through his hair. This was all foreign territory to him. He had never dealt with any major health issues. Hell, he hadn’t even had any major injuries in his career so far.

 _“We ran some more tests and we can definitively diagnose him with type 1 diabetes,”_ she informed the two men as she handed over another packet of information. _“We will keep him here for a few days to monitor him as well as provide him with information on administering insulin, counting carbohydrates, eating well-balanced meals, monitoring his blood sugar, and the importance of proper exercise. Once he has a plan in place I am certain he will adjust quite well.”_

 _“So he can still skate?”_ Otabek asked. Skating was Yurio’s passion, after all.

She nodded. _“Yes. You might have to make a few adjustments to his training regimen to avoid any issues while exercising, but I don’t see why he wouldn’t be able to continue to skate.”_

 _“He’ll be happy to hear that,”_   Victor chuckled. _“Thank you… for taking such good care of him.”_

_“Of course. Would you like to see him now?”_

_“Yes, please.”_

Yurio was sound asleep when Otabek and Victor followed the doctor into the room, who left a moment later to give them all some privacy, letting them know that she would be back later to check up on Yurio. Otabek took a seat in one of the chairs beside the bed and Victor rolled up beside him, setting his brakes and lifting his right leg to cross over his left before switching a minute later. His blue eyes fell on Yurio’s sleeping form. He looked so much more relaxed now and his color was coming back. Victor and Otabek could finally relax now, although it was probably easier for Otabek than it was for Victor. As Victor scanned the room he couldn’t help but feel what he could only describe as anxiety fill his body. The beeping monitors, the IV poles, the harsh, sterile environment… it just sent his mind back to his stay in the hospital following his accident…. and started to dig up memories that he would much rather forget. Victor would endure it though. He would do anything for the younger male. Yurio had helped him through everything. He would do his utmost to return the favor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was considering adding this later in the story but with the way that the last chapter ended, this seemed appropriate. And I love writing Yurio and Otabek. I'm excited for Beka to pop up more in the future, and for some of the other characters to make their appearances as well. 
> 
> Event 86 was my event number for my first competition ever, so I threw that in there. Popping a jump = opening up at the last minute and doing a single instead of the double/triple/quad you had been planning from the beginning.
> 
> Beka's costume is based on one of Shoma Uno's, and Yurio's is based off of one of Yuzuru Hanyu's costumes.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Which a Plan is Set in Motion

“So yeah, things have changed a bit,” Yurio commented as he finished recounting his story. “I woke up and they told me what was going on and I was fucking pissed. Victor helped though. We already lived together at the time so he was able to help me navigate everything, I guess.”

“Any time, Yuri,” Victor added. He was happy to help, especially with everything that Yurio had done for him.

Yurio held up the pump that had been resting on the table. “I got this not too long ago. I swear it’s made all the fucking difference in the world.” He had more freedom now, and he couldn’t be happier that he finally made this decision. “Heh, I told myself I would never wear anything to remind me of well, being sick, but I can’t imagine going back to how things were before.”

Yuuri nodded slowly. The puzzle pieces were beginning to fall into place now. It explained why Victor had been asking if Yurio had disconnected or not, and it made the blond's regular dashes to the locker room make sense too. "I’m glad things are working out for you.” He really was. It was good to be able to understand Yurio a bit better now. He wished that he could say the same about Victor though. He was glad that the man seemed to be doing all right, but there was still so much that he didn't understand. Victor hadn’t really talked much about himself tonight and on top of that had seemed relatively reserved throughout the course of their dinner. Not to mention, the older male really _didn’t have_ a chance to say much(even if he had wanted to), as Yurio’s babbling carried them well into the restaurant’s closing time and he knew they would have to get out of here sooner rather than later. Victor was already putting his wallet back into his backpack after signing the check, and Yurio seemed to take this as a cue to reassemble the man’s chair. 

“Yeah, me too, Katsudon.” Yurio smiled – something that Yuuri was honestly not expecting one bit since the two of them had been at odds the entire weekend. “We better get out of here before they fucking chase us out.”

The group took their leave, dropping Yuuri off at his home on the way to Yurio and Victor’s hotel(at Victor’s insistence, of course), and bidding him their goodbyes. 

“I’m sorry that we didn’t have more time to talk, Yuuri.” There Victor went with apologizing again. It wasn’t his fault that they were only in town for a short time. “But perhaps I’ll see you around?” During the car ride, Victor had informed him that they had an early flight in the morning, and that Yurio had a few more competitions to travel to before they went back home to prepare for the next season. Yuuri’s town happened to be the last stop on their workshop tour. Yurio was so beyond excited to be going home after his final competitions were said and done, mainly because Otabek had planned an extended stay with them, and he had missed his boyfriend more than he wanted to admit.

Yuuri nodded, tempted to ask Victor for his number but ultimately deciding against it. They weren’t dating and it just didn’t feel right. Not to mention if he truly wanted to get into contact with him it wouldn’t take much more than reactivating his social media and sending Victor a DM. He didn’t think he was quite ready for that either. On top of all that, there was no way in _hell_ a certain angry Russian child would approve of his asking Victor for his number. But all of this did get him thinking. He really, _really_ wanted to discuss things further with Victor, and as his ex and Yurio took their leave after saying their goodbyes, he made his decision. He stepped inside his home and pulled his phone out of his pocket, deciding to give his mother a quick call to discuss the thoughts that were currently flooding his mind.

* * *

 “Mom?” Yuuri asked rather hesitantly as Hiroko picked up. The switch to Japanese after speaking English all day was always a strange one. He could speak simple English with her, but this was just easier, and more comfortable. And he needed something to comfort him. He didn’t know why he was so nervous. This was his mother, after all.

“Yuuri, how was the rink today?” Hiroko got straight to the point.

Yuuri smiled slightly. Just hearing his mother's voice helped him to calm down a bit. Despite constantly butting heads with Yurio, he did really enjoy getting back onto the ice and skating again. Being able to share his skills with the kids was a big plus as well. “I really had fun, mom. I forgot how much I missed skating. Yurio was kind of a pain to deal with, but it was nice to spend some time with Victor.” He couldn’t believe that he was saying that about the man who had cheated on him, but he couldn’t exactly lie about it.

“Did the two of you get to talk much?” she questioned, wondering if Yuuri feeling so relaxed about everything meant that the two of them had a chance to discuss things.

“That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about...” Yuuri began, feeling another small burst of anxiety but managing to push it back down before it could overcome him. “We didn’t really have much time to talk at the rink, and Yurio kind of spent the entire meal talking about himself, so I didn’t have the chance to discuss… you know… us,” Yuuri admitted.

She was quiet for a moment before speaking. “I take it that you won’t be able to see him tomorrow?”

Yuuri shook his head even though she couldn’t see it. “He and Yurio are flying out tomorrow morning. Yurio is going to compete and then they're going back home.” Back home. Back to Russia. Somewhere that he once called home as well. Just the thought made his heart ache for the old days of his relationship. “I wanted to get his number but I didn’t think there was any way in hell Yurio would let me have it, so I didn’t bother asking.”

Hiroko wished that she could help him there. She hadn’t been in contact with Victor since the breakup either. “Maybe you can send him a message online?” she suggested.

“Maybe… but uhh… I want to be able to talk to him in person, you know? So I was actually thinking...” he trailed off, wondering if this idea was just stupid and if he should backpedal right now.

“About what, love?” Hiroko softly encouraged. Nothing her son said would ever be stupid in her eyes.

Yuuri took a breath. “They said they’re going to be training for next season. I was… well, I was thinking of doing the same thing. Getting back into skating, I mean.” He would definitely see Victor at a competition if he did that, after all.

Hiroko smiled. “Yuuri I think that’s a wonderful idea.” She could tell in his voice that he wanted to not only see Victor again but he wanted to skate. And what better way to do both than to compete next season? “The happiest I have ever seen you has been when you’ve been out on the ice. I would love to watch you skate again.” She really would. As a mother especially, she wanted nothing more than to see her son smile. “Victor aside, I think you need to do this for yourself, Yuuri.” She knew that his anxiety and depression had been particularly bad these past few years, and she knew that part of it was due to him having not been skating. Skating was his stress relief; it really was.

Yuuri couldn’t agree more. He really needed to. If anything, running into Victor this weekend was the push that he needed to get back into skating. Whether they got back together in the end or not, that didn’t matter. Yuuri wanted to skate. He wanted more than anything to feel the ice beneath his blades again. The small taste that he had of it today simply wasn’t enough. No, he would get back out there, start competing again, and perhaps work towards forgiving Victor for everything that had transpired. Yes, he had a solid plan, and all he needed to do now was put it into action. “You’re right, mom. I just wanted to, you know, run it by you… make sure it wasn’t a stupid idea,” he shrugged. “Do you think I’ll even be able to get back to where I was?” He had been out of touch with practice for three years. Today proved that he still had some muscle memory left in him, but how much would he be able to pick back up? Would he even be able to get his quads back? Maybe this wasn’t the best idea after all.

“If you put your mind to it, I’m sure you can get yourself back to that point,” Hiroko encouraged him. “And you never know until you try. Don’t count yourself out, Yuuri.”

She was right. He just needed to dive in head first and start training. “Yeah, you’re right.”

“Is there anyone that you can train with?” she asked, curiously. Yuuri tended to work best when he had someone to train alongside him. Even if he decided to compete without a coach, a training buddy would do wonders for his self-esteem and perseverance.

Yuuri was silent on the other end of the line. He did have someone in mind, but he wasn’t sure if this person would even be willing to speak with him after what had happened three years ago.

“Yuuri?”

“Ah, sorry. Yeah, I do have someone in mind,” he informed her, his heart racing at the thought of making the call later.

“Why don’t you give that person a call before it gets too late? I’ll be here if you need to talk afterwards.” She knew that if she didn’t encourage him to do it now, he would put it off. Yuuri was an expert at procrastination.

“Yeah, okay.” Yuuri swallowed a lump in his throat. “Call you later?”

“I’ll talk to you later, Yuuri. I love you.”

“Love you too,” he said softly as he hung up and pulled up the keypad on the touch screen of his phone. With a deep breath he bit the bullet, dialing a number from memory and hoping beyond hope it still belonged to the person that he was trying to reach.

He tried to swallow down a wave of anxiety and the desire to hang up and reconsider everything as the phone rang, but before he could change his course of action, he could hear the tell-tale click of someone picking up the phone.

Yuuri could have sworn that his heart stopped in that moment.

“Hello?” a rather sleepy voice on the other end answered. Yuuri’s anxiety began to abate, if slightly. He knew that voice. How could he forget that voice?

“Phichit?”

“Yuuri!?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short little transition chapter. I'm really looking forward to the upcoming "arc", so to speak, which I'm hoping to get out soon! Yuuri will have some well-needed time to relax and have a little fun while training to compete again, which I think he definitely deserves at this point lol. I've pretty much got the entire story mapped out, and now it's just a matter of getting it all properly written.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Which Said Plan is Executed

The sleepy voice on the phone was suddenly not so sleepy anymore. “Is that really you? I’m not still dreaming, am I?” Phichit exclaimed, seeming to have instantaneously gained a severe burst of energy at the sound of his old friend’s voice. He started prattling off in Thai before he even realized what he was doing.

Yuuri couldn’t help but let out a giggle. “Whoa, Phichit, slow down. English! English!” He really hadn’t spoken a word of anything but Japanese and English in years, so needless to say his small grasp of the Thai language was even smaller due to not having had Phichit there to help him with it.

“Eheheh, sorry, sorry!” Phichit laughed, making sure to respond in English this time. “It’s just so good to hear from you that I guess I got a little carried away!” Phichit had to admit that he was beyond stunned at the fact that it was Yuuri Katsuki of all people that had called him just now. To be honest he had been hesitant about answering, being unfamiliar with the number that had called him, but now he was so glad that he did.

Yuuri adjusted his(still cracked; he needed to get those fixed) glasses and smiled. Phichit seemed genuinely excited to hear from him. He was glad for that. It still wouldn’t stop him from apologizing for essentially ghosting his best friend as he did Victor, though. He owed Phichit that and so much more. “Yeah, you’re...” he paused, “you’re not dreaming. It’s really me.” Another pause. “Phichit, I’m so sorry for just… disappearing like I did. I just--”

“I’m gonna stop you right there,” the voice on the other end interrupted. “I have to admit that I was pretty upset at first,” Phichit explained. Yuuri couldn’t really argue with him there. Dropping contact like he did was a dick move, no doubt about it, and it probably caused all sorts of emotional upset for Phichit. “And to be honest I was really depressed at first. I mean... you were my best friend, dude, and you just vanished without a word.” Phichit’s words stung Yuuri’s heart but he deserved each and every one of them. “But then I heard about what happened with Victor and figured you needed your space. I probably would have done the same, to be honest. I just… I guess it was getting to the point where I thought I would never hear from you.” He had truly believe that his friendship with Yuuri had come to an end.

“Better late than never?” Yuuri asked timidly, feeling beyond guilty over all of the events that had transpired and hoping beyond hope that their burnt out ember of friendship could be rekindled once more.

“Better late than never,” Phichit repeated, the confidence in his voice beginning to melt away Yuuri’s anxieties. “I forgive you, Yuuri. I know it must have been tough… you know, after what happened with Victor and all that. Like I said, I probably would have done the same thing." Yuuri was so incredibly glad to have Phichit back in his life. He was so quick to forgive and let the past stay in the past. Yuuri wished he could be more like that sometimes. At the same time though, he had witnessed firsthand several instances where Phichit's habit of being too nice ended up backfiring. He hoped this wouldn't be one of those cases. Then again, he and Yuuri could probably make it over any mountain that stood in the way of their friendship. "But enough about that," Phichit continued. "How have you been? Dude we have like --- what --- three years to catch up on? You know this conversation is going down in social media history, right?” Phichit was already reaching for his laptop so he could make a ‘Guess who I’m talking to right now? That’s right, Yuuri Katsuki! #bffs #reunited ((hamster emoji))’ post on Bookface or InstaTwitter or whatever people used nowadays.

“Wait!!” Yuuri exclaimed, probably loud enough to wake his neighbors, and certainly loud enough to make Phichit stop in his tracks, almost dropping his laptop in the process.

“What? You not ready to return to the world of the living just yet?” Phichit asked, half-jokingly. He was resisting the urge to post – to tell the world that he had his friend back. It was like having an itch he couldn’t scratch. Yuuri would always joke that he was addicted to social media. Phichit? Addicted? Nooooo. Not him. Neeeverrrr.

Yuuri was quiet for a moment. He had found a loose thread on his pants and suddenly became very fascinated by it. “No, not yet. I mean… I want to stay kind of under the radar for now.” He twisted and tugged on the thread as he spoke. It was helping to keep his anxiety at bay(but just barely).

“Why?”

Yuuri took a breath before diving into his explanation, informing Phichit of all that had transpired over the weekend: his running quite literally into Victor at the supermarket he worked at, their meeting in Victor’s hotel room, helping out with the classes at the rink, Yurio insulting him every chance he got, and their meal and subsequent goodbyes. “They said that they’re going to be training for next season soon, and so I figured I would try to surprise them by--”

“ _Competing too!?”_   Phichit exclaimed, finishing Yuuri’s sentence for him with such enthusiasm that Yuuri swore he could _feel_ through the phone. “Let’s train together!! I’m competing next season too! It’ll be just like old times! Where are you? Are you living in the US right now?” he asked, talking a thousand miles a minute. Yuuri was having a hard time comprehending anything Phichit was saying, and he was pretty sure that his friend was still speaking English right now.

“Y-yeah, I’m in the US. I live i--” Yuuri swore he heard typing at the other end of the line. “Phichit what did I just say about social media?” he practically scolded, wondering if this was even a good idea given how social media-obsessed his friend was.

Phichit simply brushed him off, continuing to chatter away(still in English, thank goodness for that). “That means airfare will be cheaper. I just pulled up a bunch of sites to look at flight information. When do you wanna meet? Want me to come to you? Oh but then I’d have to fly my coach out too. Are you competing with a coach? What’s the closest airport to you? We can still head your way if that’s easier. I promise I’m not posting any of this online,” he added to reassure Yuuri that his secret was safe with him.

Yuuri felt like a rug had been pulled out from underneath him. So much had just happened and so quickly too. Despite sitting down, he felt the need to sit down. This was overwhelming, but not necessarily in a bad way. It was just surprising. Beyond surprising. “You’re already looking at fli--” he cut himself off and shook his head, “Never mind, one thing at a time. You’re competing too?”

“Yeah, I did the ice show thing for a bit and I’m actually gonna take the show on tour soon, but wanted to compete one more time, you know? For old time’s sake.”

Oh, Yuuri knew the feeling of wanting to compete, not just for old time's sake in his case though. “Talk about timing, huh?” The both of them wanting to compete once again at the same time? And Phichit seeming to be very receptive to training together? It was like the stars had aligned in their favor.

“Yeah, I still can’t believe it myself,” Phichit added. “I’m just so excited to catch up with you, Yuuri. I missed you more than you know.”

Yuuri missed his best friend too. “I missed you too. It’s been tough not being in contact with you, or any of the others for that matter. I guess Victor and Yurio put things into perspective for me and really encouraged me to put myself out there again.” His mother helped give him that final push as well.

“You thinking about trying to make things work with him again?” Phichit inquired.

Yuuri shook his head even though Phichit couldn’t see it(come to think he was surprised Phichit hadn’t tried facetiming him yet. Must have been the shock of it all) before replying. “Honestly? I don’t think so. I mean, I don’t know. Right now I just want to compete and maybe try to talk with him when I can. I want to at least try to understand things and work towards forgiving him.” He wanted to at least try to do that much.

Phichit nodded. “Makes sense. It’s a tough situation I know. The fact that you’re up for forgiving him means you have a lot of guts though. You’re a good guy, Yuuri.”

“You too. You forgave me, after all.”

“Just promise me you’ll never leave me again!”

“Oh now look who’s being dramatic.”

“You love me for it.”

The two laughed. It was amazing how quickly they seemed to fall back into their old rhythm. They caught up briefly on the phone, giving each other the abridged version of their adventures these past few years and discussing their training for the upcoming season. Yuuri readily agreed to fly out and meet Phichit, as it would be easier that way(Yuuri would be competing without a coach and it wasn’t like his grocery store job would miss him. This way Phichit wouldn’t have to uproot everything to come to him), and once he was settled they would really take some time to fully catch up and then begin their practice. Yuuri’s heart felt lighter than ever. He was going to skate with his best friend and compete in an upcoming season. He was so excited.

“So you’ll be getting an email with your flight info soon. Your flight leaves at seven tomorrow morning and I’ll pick you up as soon as you land. Then we can grab lunch and plan things out,” Phichit informed his best friend. How on earth he managed to book his plane ticket in that short amount of time was still a mystery to Yuuri. “You sure you’re gonna be cool with competing no coach?” he asked.

Yuuri looked at the clock, already regretting the few hours of sleep he would get tonight and wondering why he chose such an early flight(Oh yeah, Phichit, that was why). Oh well, he could sleep on the plane at least. “Yeah, I kind of want to show Victor that I can do it, you know? It was one of the things we fought about before, well, everything went down.” There had been quite a few screaming matches regarding Victor’s coaching when they had been competing against each other, so now Yuuri wanted to prove to Victor that he could do it himself; that he was capable.

“I gotcha, dude. You gotta do what you gotta do. Anyway, I’ll let you get packed! See you tomorrow, Yuuri!!”

“See you then, and promise me---”

“No social media! I swear on my hamster’s lives!”

“Good. See you tomorrow.”

“Bye, Yuuri~!”

Yuuri hung up and texted his mother with a brief rundown of his conversation with Phichit as well as his itinerary for his flight the next morning. He wished that he had the time to call her but he needed to get everything in order sooner rather than later. He didn’t have much time. He called his work and left a message saying that he wouldn’t be in(he hated to quit over the phone like this but it wasn’t as if he had a choice in the matter) and then set to work on his packing. Luckily there wasn’t much to pack. He figured that he could buy any essentials when he arrived at his destination, so he just packed a few outfits, his skates and skate supplies(he had to toss his medals in there as well, of course), his laptop, a few keepsakes from his mother, and a few reminders of his time with Victor, including some old photo albums he had buried deep within his closet. He didn’t know why he felt possessed to bring them, but he couldn’t just leave them behind. Soon enough he found himself crawling into his bed for the last time(at least until the season was over) and setting a timer for a few hours later before removing his glasses and placing them on the bedside table. He closed his eyes, desperate to get even a little sleep despite the excitement and anxiety battling for dominance in his chest.

His flight would leave at seven.

He was going to be training with his best friend.

He was going to compete.

He was going to see Victor again.

And he couldn’t wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another little transition chapter. Many Phichit and Yuuri antics to come soon, with a healthy sprinkling of Yurio, Victor, and Otabek tossed in for good measure. Life has been crazy busy(and I'm having to type with one hand due to an injury. Lol still skating though - I even managed to correct a few lingering issues with my loop and toe loop!) but I'm really enjoying writing this so I intend to continue putting out content as often as I can.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Which New Adventures are Beginning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some medical stuff in this chapter, but nothing graphic.

To say that Yuuri slept soundly that night would be a lie. He spent the whole the time that he should have been sleeping tossing and turning instead. It wasn’t entirely nervousness that had been keeping him awake, but also a surge of excitement regarding his newfound plans for this next skating season. Yuuri eventually gave up on sleeping, and spent the remainder of his time prior to leaving for the airport double checking everything, making sure that he hadn’t forgotten to pack anything of importance. Once satisfied that he indeed hadn’t forgotten a thing, he grabbed his skate bag and suitcase and stepped outside his apartment, locking the door behind him before calling for a cab. While he typically walked everywhere, the airport was a good few miles away, and therefore calling a cab was a much better option compared to the alternative. He also sent Phichit and his mother texts to let them know that he was on his way to the airport. Phichit replied back immediately, which made Yuuri wonder if the other male was going to get any sleep at all before picking him up later on. If that was the case, this would be interesting. One would think that lack of sleep would make someone less energetic. For Phichit, it was the opposite. 

The snow fell softly as he loaded his bags into the cab and hopped inside, and Yuuri couldn’t help but stare out the window at the place he had called home for the past three years as they drove, not taking his eyes off of it until it was far removed from his sight. He was really doing this. In a few short hours he would be thrust into a brand new, yet astoundingly familiar life. He smiled as they crossed the bridge over the frozen river that led to the lake, his chocolate brown eyes locked on the ice that remained blanketed over the water. His mind flashed back to his walks to work where occasionally he would see skaters out on the ice, and a calm washed over him. That would be him soon. He was going to skate. Yuuri Katsuki was going to return to the ice after three long years. As much as running into Victor had upset him at first, he couldn’t deny that Victor’s arrival in his small town was the catalyst for this decision of his. At this point, he honestly couldn’t thank Victor enough for giving him the push to start skating again, and he couldn’t wait to surprise Victor at competition. He knew that he was in for a world of work, and he honestly wasn’t even certain if he would be able to get all of his elements back, but he would try his hardest and give one hundred and ten percent each and every practice. He was going to prove to Victor that he could do it --- that he was capable.

The cab pulled up to the departure drop off lanes and Yuuri paid the driver, stepping out into the brisk air once again to retrieve his bags. It was times like this where he was glad that he was a figure skater and that he was used to the cold weather, especially since he was in a pair of lightweight pants and a t-shirt due to his flight arriving in a much warmer climate than this one. He was sure that he looked ridiculous to everyone else that was fluttering about, trying to make their scheduled flights, all bundled up in layers upon layers of clothes, but he wanted to be comfortable upon his arrival, and so he prepared accordingly. Soon enough he was checked in for his flight and through the security check. Yuuri needed to practically duck down a side hallway on the way to his gate, due to the fact that he had spotted an extremely familiar head of silver hair sitting down next to a frustrated looking blond who just happened to look over at the wrong moment before muttering something to the man beside him and trotting off to the bathroom. Yuuri sighed a sigh of relief at his successful sneaking, and proceeded to bolt for his gate as if his life depended on it. Once he arrived and deemed himself far enough away from Yurio and Victor, he could finally relax until it was time to board. His mother had texted him sometime during his adventure through security, and he took this time to talk a bit with her, as well as with Phichit, updating them and letting them know that he would be on the plane soon. He also informed Phichit that he almost was spotted by Yurio, which caused his friend to literally blow up his phone with texts. So much for relaxing before his flight. 

* * *

“Hey, old man, get up already!” Yurio exclaimed, chucking a pillow at Victor’s sleeping form on the bed next to his. Victor simply snored, causing Yurio to growl in frustration. The older male could be notoriously difficult to wake up at times. He hopped out of bed and padded over to Victor’s side, sighing deeply before rather violently shaking Victor’s shoulder. “Wake up asshole we’re not going to miss our flight because you needed your beauty sleep!!”

Victor let out a groan. “Yuriiiii it’s too earlyyyy!” he whined, trying to ignore Yurio’s advances by covering his face with his blanket. Yurio simply ripped it off the bed. Victor had been so close to falling asleep again that his reflexes were not nearly as fast as they usually were.

“You’re the one that decided to go out to eat with that shitty Katsudon last night now wake up and get ready or I will drag you into the bathroom and do it myself.” He wasn’t kidding. He would without a doubt drag him into the shower and turn the cold water on full blast. He had done it before.

Victor slowly pulled himself into a sitting position, leaning back against the headboard of the bed for support as he resigned himself to defeat. It really was too early for all of this. “I’m up, I’m up,” Victor yawned, trying to force himself to stay awake even as his eyes threatened to shut once more. “I’m sorry, I know I’m usually more awake than this. It was just a –” he winced – “rough night is all.” There, he said it. He had tried to hide it but he couldn’t any longer.

The harsh expression of Yurio’s green eyes softened to one of genuine concern. “Rough night?” he repeated, sitting down at the edge of Victor’s bed and facing him, the pain lacing Victor’s features becoming all the more apparent now that Yurio was up close. He could tell that Victor was feeling miserable. The man was sweating despite wearing nothing but a tank top and a pair of boxer shorts.“What’s going on?”

Victor winced again, blue eyes screwing shut and squeezing out a few stray tears that slowly slid down his cheek. “Just… hurts is all,” he muttered, feeling like such a burden right now. They needed to be getting ready for their flight and here he was in bed whining like a child.

“What hurts? Your legs?”

Victor nodded. He could only describe the sensations he had been feeling all night as burning knives being drilled repeatedly into his legs. Despite having virtually no sensation whatsoever below his point of injury, he had dealt with chronic pain since the beginning. It was something about nerve signals around the injury getting all mixed up and the brain misunderstanding those signals, thus causing pain below where he had been hurt -- that's what he got out of his conversations with doctors at least. There was also something about muscle spasticity that just confused him even more(he wasn’t a doctor so a lot of this went in one ear and out the other but the one thing he did know was that it hurt). And in all honesty Victor really didn’t have a high tolerance for pain, so when his body decided to flare up like this, it really made him miserable.

Yurio was inwardly glad that he had chosen to wake Victor up earlier this morning than he had originally planned, as it would give them time to sort out this situation and still finish up their morning routines in time for their flight. He wished they could just stay in town another day(yes even Yurio would put up with being in the same town that shitty Katsudon lived in for another day if it meant Victor could rest) but they really had to stay on schedule so they could make it to Yurio’s next competition in time. They both knew that much. “Shit, okay,” Yurio muttered, running a hand through his blond hair as he worked out a plan in his head. “We’ll get your meds in you and then do range of motion. Where’s your stuff?”

“Bathroom,” Victor informed him through slightly gritted teeth. Yurio nodded, hopping off the bed and walking into the bathroom, spotting Victor’s toiletry bag on the counter and digging through various supplies and pill bottles until he had located the painkillers he was looking for. He then made his way to the kitchen, grabbing a bottle of water out of the fridge before returning to Victor’s side, opening the water bottle for him and passing it to him before doing the same with the pill bottle.

“I hate these so much,” Victor half-chuckled after swallowing down the medication. Sure they helped with the pain, but with strong painkillers came strong side effects, and not to mention risk of dependency. That was just not a road Victor wanted to go down-- not again, at least. Victor was done with addictions.

“I know, but they’ll help. You always take them just as they were prescribed so you'll be fine,” Yurio replied, trying to provide a bit of comfort to the older male. Victor needed relief, especially since they had a decently long flight coming up. “Lay down.”

Victor did as he was instructed, laying back down in bed while Yurio took one of his legs into his hands, lifting, bending, stretching, and manipulating the joints to hopefully relieve some of the tension they held before moving onto the other leg. “You know you could have woken me up. You didn’t have to suffer until now,” the blond commented somewhat gruffly as he continued to work.

“You needed your sleep. I didn’t want to burden you.”

“How many times do I have to tell you that you’re not burdening me. If you need something, just let me know.” This had been a struggle since the beginning. Victor was stubborn, that was for certain. “You always tell me to do the same.”

Victor laughed a genuine laugh. The painkillers were beginning to take the edge off it seemed. “And how often do _you_ follow through with that, hmm? You also have a bad habit of not letting me know when you need something.” Clearly the two of them still had some communication barriers to overcome. “Need I remind you of all the lows you attempted to hide during your skating?” In the beginning, instead of just letting Victor know that he needed sugar, Yurio had chosen the alternative: staying silent until he had practically passed out. 

Yurio dropped the leg he was stretching. “Stretch yourself, old man.”

“But Yuri~!” Victor whined.

Yurio rolled his eyes as his lips curled into a small smile. Picking Victor’s leg back up, he finished up the last of his range of motion exercises before setting it down far more gently than earlier and then glanced at the clock that sat perched on the bedside table. They were going to be cutting it close but Yurio was sure they would make their flight. “Get ready for our flight. I’ll make us something to eat.” The blond was beginning to really need food. They still had some leftover snacks and stuff from Victor’s shopping trip the other day, so he figured that he’d whip something up while Victor finished his morning routine.

Victor successfully transferred and made his way into the bathroom. “Don’t wait up for me. Eat,” he told Yurio, knowing full well that he would be in there for at least an hour and that Yurio needed food sooner rather than later.

“Yeah yeah.”

* * *

The Russian pair successfully made it to the airport, but like Yurio predicted, they did cut it fairly close. At least the security line hadn’t been too hellish – probably something to do with this being a small town and with them flying out at the ass crack of dawn, but the process, quick or not, always seemed to piss Yurio off to no end. So there he sat at their gate, ranting about security to Victor who was just trying to rest prior to boarding before something caught his attention.

He turned away from Victor and scanned the area before turning back. “I swear it’s too early for any of this,” Yurio grumbled, shaking his head and rubbing his eyes, desperately trying to wake himself up.

Victor looked in the direction that Yurio had been looking and then focused his blue eyes on Yurio, silver eyebrows furrowing slightly in confusion. “What is it, Yuri? I don’t see anything.”

“I fucking swear I just saw that shitty Katsudon. I must be fucking hallucinating.” That had to be it. After being stuck with Yuuri Katsuki all weekend and failing to get a decent amount of sleep last night, there was no other explanation than his mind playing tricks on him, and he was now seeing things that weren’t there. He needed to wake himself up. “I’ll be right back,” Yurio informed Victor as he took off for the bathroom, looking for Yuuri Katsuki while on the way, as well as checking every corner of the bathroom when he got inside. Once it was deemed that yes, he was just imagining things, Yurio walked to a sink, turning the cold water on full blast and splashing his face with it in a desperate attempt to wake himself up. “Get a grip, Plisetsky. He’s not fucking stalking Victor, for fuck’s sake.” He washed his hands and checked his blood sugar for good measure, and once he determined everything to be in order, returned to Victor so that he could watch their things while Victor used the restroom before they had to board. At least they could both get the sleep they deserved on the plane.

As it came time to board, Yuri Plisetsky was beyond glad to be getting out of here and leaving Katsuki and all thoughts of him behind.

Little did he know that Yuuri Katsuki was boarding his own flight to meet up with Phichit and that their paths would cross again sooner rather than later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally somewhat of an update! Between moving to a new place that's closer to the rink and work and dealing with an injury that has been affecting my typing, I haven't had as much time as I'd like to focus on this. Thankfully my injury is almost healed and I'm taking my time with unpacking, so I'll have more time to write now, which is especially good since I'm really looking forward to where this story is going. :D Phichit and Yuuri antics in the next chapter!


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Which there is a Reunion

The flight was uneventful, which was a welcome relief for Yuuri. As soon as it had been permitted to do so, the male reclined his seat and tried to make himself as comfortable as possible(which was never an easy feat when flying economy, but he managed somehow) before closing his eyes and drifting off in a desperate attempt to catch up on as much sleep as possible before landing. Much to his surprise, he was actually able to venture past the barriers of a light sleep and into a deeper one, soft snores escaping his lungs as he rested for the duration of the flight. He didn’t stir when the flight attendants came through with food(if one could even call it that) and drinks, and it wasn’t until he was forced to awaken as they made their descent that he did, a deep yawn leaving him as he put his seat back up in preparation for landing. Yuuri looked out the window. The sun was shining brightly over the city. It was a welcome sight. It had been so gray in his hometown lately with all of the snow that had been so unrelentlessly falling. He was excited to escape to someplace warm, even if he would be spending most of his time in an ice rink. The warmth would be a welcome relief from all of the cold though, that was for certain.

As the plane touched down Yuuri proceeded to turn his phone on. As soon as a signal was re-established, his phone lit up with alerts - mostly text messages from Phichit. Apparently his best friend had been giving Yuuri a full play by play of his day, letting him know that he was getting ready to leave, that he had left, that he was on the way to the airport, and that he had arrived and was now waiting for Yuuri at the baggage claim. Yuuri sent him a quick text to let him know that he had landed and that he would be there soon. He sent a message to his mother as well, letting her know that he had arrived safely. Much to his surprise she responded, having woken up from her sleep to text her son. Yuuri smiled. He loved his family so much.

The plane arrived at the jetway and Yuuri stood up, his joints cracking and popping after having been scrunched in such a confined space for the duration of the flight. ‘ _I’m getting old,’_ he thought to himself as he reached for his carry on bag that contained his skates. More often than not, he felt as young as ever, but at times like this, where he would wake up with a stiff body and cracking joints, he couldn’t help but fear age slowly creeping up on him. Oh how he hoped he would be able to keep up with all of the kids on the ice. At least he and Phichit were relatively close in age – just a few short years apart – but at the same time Phichit hadn’t had a three year hiatus in his skating. Needless to say, this was going to be interesting. He slung his bag over his shoulder and waded through the congested line of individuals and families that were disembarking, finally finding a break in the sea of people as he stepped off the escalator that led to the bag claim.

Phichit spotted him right away.

“Yuuri!!” he exclaimed, waving excitedly as he practically bounded over to greet his friend. “It’s so great to see you!” Phichit didn’t hesitate before pulling Yuuri into a hug – something that Yuuri gratefully accepted with open arms. His heart felt so light. This was real. It didn’t feel real before this moment. There was such a big difference between simply talking to someone over the phone and actually being able to see them in person like this. “You look amazing! Seriously I can’t believe I’m standing right in front of you right now. I’m not dreaming again, am I?”

Yuuri smiled and shook his head. “You’re not dreaming, Phichit. I’m really here. I don’t know about ‘amazing’ though. I’m so out of shape.” His body wasn’t quite what it had been during the peak of his skating days. And his glasses were still broken. Not to mention his nose was probably still visibly swollen. And his hair was a mess from sleeping on the plane. Yep, he was a mess. “But you...wow… you look great,” he breathed. His body was lean and toned, and his skin was practically glowing in the sunlight that streamed through the glass doors and windows of the airport. His short black hair was brushed sleekly back, and he wore a simple gray t-shirt and a pair of black jeans along with his sneakers. He looked like he hadn’t aged at all since Yuuri had last seen him. Yuuri couldn’t help but stare. Phichit was a god standing before him. Yuuri couldn’t deny that the man was attractive. He always had been.

“uuri… Yuuri...” Phichit’s voice cut through Yuuri’s thoughts and a tan hand began to wave in front of his face. “Earth to Yuuri… you in there, buddy?” Phichit laughed.

“Huh? Y-Yeah, sorry about that. Guess I spaced out for a second. It’s just… I can’t believe I’m here… this is real… you’re here… and wow you look good.”

“Makes you want me, doesn’t it?” Phichit joked.

Yuuri laughed. “Nope.”

“Yuuri I’m so huuurt! I thought what we had was special!” Phichit practically whined.

Yuuri rolled his eyes, that smile still plastered on his face as if it had been painted on. “I love you, dude.” He really did. Maybe not in a romantic way but definitely in a platonic one. While the two of them occasionally made jokes that could be interpreted in a romantic sort of way, they both agreed long ago that dating would be weird. They were too close to date. It would be like dating a brother and both of them thoroughly cringed at that thought. Phichit was his best friend – practically a brother – no doubt about it.

“I love you too – say cheese!” Before Yuuri could react, Phichit had snapped a selfie of the two of them at the airport. “Don’t worry, I won’t post it. Like I said, I promised on my hamster’s lives. But that won’t stop me from documenting our adventures… you know… if you ever want to post them later,” Phichit grinned as he nudged his friend playfully.

Yuuri shook his head. “Okay, deal. You can document but no posting.”

“Good! Now, let’s get your bags and get the heck outta here so we can start planning!”

* * *

 

The two men waited rather impatiently for the baggage carousel to finally spit up Yuuri’s suitcase, which Phichit grabbed as quickly as he could the moment Yuuri had pointed it out. They exited the chill of the air conditioned airport and into the hot, humid climate of the city. Yuuri was so glad that he had worn something lightweight and cool. The difference between here and back home was night and day. Yuuri was beyond relieved when the two of them finally loaded his suitcase into Phichit’s car and hopped in, the car quickly beginning to cool as Phichit started to drive. 

“So, where to, Yuuri? You hungry? Want to grab some lunch?”

Yuuri’s stomach growled in response. “Actually, that sounds great right about now.” He was starving after not having eaten breakfast, or anything on the plane for that matter.

“You got it, dude. What are you in the mood for?”

Yuuri fought back a yawn, the motion of the car almost putting him to sleep despite his excitement over everything. “Surprise me?”

“Hmm...” Phichit thought for a moment. “You still like katsudon?” Yuuri gave him one of those famous ‘are you _seriously_ asking me that?’ eyebrow raises at the question. Phichit simply chuckled. “Haha, just checking, man. In any case if you’re up for katsudon there’s a really great Japanese restaurant near my house.” It really was some of the best Japanese food that Phichit had had here in the States. It had been owned an operated by several generations of immigrants from Japan, and the food was as authentic as it could get as a result. It was in a quieter part of the downtown area of the city, far removed from the major hustle and bustle but still in a great central location to do good business.

Yuuri smiled, closing his eyes for a moment and reminiscing on his mother’s cooking. If he could have anything that was even somewhat close to that right now, he would be in even more of a heaven than he already was. “Yeah, let’s do that,” Yuuri agreed. Phichit nodded and set a course for the restaurant.

* * *

 

Yuuri was amazed as they stepped into the restaurant. It reminded him so much of home that for a moment there he forgot where he was. Stepping onto the beautiful wooden flooring, he slipped his shoes off along with Phichit and stepped onto the portion of the flooring adorned with tatami mats as they were led to their table. He sat down on the cushion that sat on the floor at their table across from Phichit and glanced around, admiring the shoji screens that opened up in between rooms and along the walls to let light in from the windows. Glancing across the table at Phichit, he smiled. “It’s amazing,” Yuuri commented softly in Japanese.

Phichit grinned. “I told you so,” he responded in Thai before switching to English. “I thought you would approve.” He quickly ordered katsudon for the both of them as well as a few beers to celebrate Yuuri’s safe arrival. Yuuri had protested at first, complaining that it was far too early to drink, but Phichit won out in the end. It was a celebration, after all, so they were allowed to bend the rules a bit.

“By the way, Yuuri, what happened to your glasses?” Phichit asked as he took a sip of his beer. He had noticed it back at the airport, but hadn’t had a chance to ask until now.

“Yurio,” Yuuri responded flatly as he took a sip of his drink, the alcohol dulling some of the residual pain in his nose. “Yurio happened.”

Phichit winced. “How in the hell did he manage _that_?” Yuuri’s nose was slightly swollen and pink too. It looked like it had to hurt.

Yuuri took another sip as he prepared to relay the story. “I went to the rink before their workshop and decided to skate for a bit… I was so caught up in everything that I was doing that I didn’t even hear the two of them come in…. I fell… and then I went to get off the ice and Yurio was there. Needless to say he wasn’t happy to see me. Probably would have beaten me to a pulp if Victor hadn’t stopped him.”

“Did he ever say why he went after you like that?” Phichit asked, curiosity invading his voice.

A shake of the head from Yuuri. “Not really. He kept telling me to talk to Victor about it, and then every time I tried to talk to Victor, he would butt in so I couldn’t get a word in edgewise. The most I got out of him was that he was pissed off at me for leaving like I did. He pretty much blames me for everything that happened to Victor.”

Phichit nodded slowly, staring into his glass and swirling the golden foaming liquid inside before taking another drink. “I guess I can see where he’s coming from. You’re not to blame but I don’t think he really understands that, you know? Victor has always been important to him, and I think it hit him really hard when he got into that accident.” As much as Yuuri wanted to argue, he couldn’t. Phichit was right. Yurio looked up to Victor – he wanted to emulate Victor – he wanted to _surpass_ Victor – and seeing Victor’s entire career crumble due to an accident, well, it probably destroyed Yurio almost as much as it destroyed Victor. Yurio probably didn’t want Victor and Yuuri to talk because he didn’t want to bring the past to the forefront; he didn’t want to see Victor hurt again.

“Do you know… what happened to Victor?” Yuuri asked cautiously, more to his beer than to Phichit, his eyebrows furrowed and his eyes threatening to tear up behind his glasses.

Phichit nodded. He had been in Thailand at the time, but he remembered what he saw through the news and social media. Unlike Yuuri who hadn’t had a clue what had been going on in the skating world, Phichit kept pretty up to date on everything. “All I really know is what I saw on the news and social media. I tried texting some of the other skaters at the time, but Chris and Yurio were pretty adamant about not giving details to anyone – me included.” Phichit paused before continuing. “It was a car accident,” he informed his best friend. “Rumor has it that he was driving drunk and that’s what caused the crash. That’s only speculation though. The news never reported on exactly what went down. Someone on a forum said they saw him at a bar that night. I kind of believe it, you know? According to the internet, once he started showing up at events again, he never had anything to drink at dinners or galas or any type of social gathering, really. And you know how he would always drink back when we all competed together.”

Yuuri remembered. How could he forget the times Victor would get so drunk during dinners that he would literally strip naked at the table. Hell, their first meeting happened because he, Victor, and the others had been drinking… which naturally led to a dance off… which led to Victor coming to Hasetsu and being his coach. Victor also had ordered a soda when he took Yuuri and Yurio out for dinner after their workshop. Phichit’s story was seeming more and more probable, as much as he didn’t want to believe or admit it. He ran a nervous, shaky hand through his hair and set his drink down before exhaling a breath that he didn’t even know he was holding.

Before Yuuri could say a word, Phichit was speaking again. He put a hand on Yuuri’s and looked into his friend’s eyes. “Hey, it’s not your fault. You aren’t responsible for what someone else chooses to do with their life.” If Victor chose to handle his problems through drinking and subsequently getting into an accident as a result, that was on him, not Yuuri.

“I’m trying to tell myself that,” Yuuri admitted softly. “I just can’t help but feel like things would have been different if I didn’t leave like I did. I was just… I was so _angry_ , Phichit. The only person I ever loved betrayed every bit of trust that I had in our relationship.” A few soft tears slipped down his cheeks. “I did the only thing I could think of… I left… but maybe I should have stayed. If I had, then maybe he would be… maybe things would be different now.”

“Yuuri,” Phichit spoke softly, his voice only slightly above a whisper. “Even if you stayed, he could have still participated in self-destructive behavior. You did what you had to do for yourself and your own physical and mental well-being. Try to remember that, okay.”

“Yeah, even Victor told me not to blame myself, but it’s hard when--”

“When people like Yurio keep trying to convince you otherwise?”

“Yeah”

Phichit grinned. “You wanna know something awesome?”

“What?”

“Yurio isn’t around right now, and we have alllll this time until competitions start back up, so you have plenty of time to focus on yourself and not on anything stupid that Yurio has to say.”

Yuuri’s lips twitched upwards and curled into a small smile. “You’re right. I’m really going to try to focus on myself and--”

“And kicking ass in competition?”

“And kicking ass in competition,” Yuuri agreed.

“Speaking of,” Phichit continued after their food had arrived, “when do you want to officially start your training?” They had a tiny bit of free time that they could either spend getting a jumpstart on training or resting up and exploring the area. Phichit certainly wouldn’t oppose to taking Yuuri on a tour of his city, but at the same time was just as eager as Yuuri was to start training for the next skating season.

Yuuri thought for a bit. “Hmm, probably sooner rather than later,” he commented as he took another bite of his katsudon. It was almost as good as his mother’s. Almost. He had a feeling there would be quite a few trips to this place as the time went on. “I need to find a place to live and get settled first though.” He kind of jumped the gun on coming here(which was primarily Phichit’s doing but he would share the blame) so he didn’t even have a place to live yet.

“What do you mean?” Phichit asked.

“What do you mean ‘what do I mean’?” Yuuri repeated, his mouth half-full of pork as he spoke.

Phichit laughed. “You’re staying with me, buddy!”

Yuuri almost choked on his food. “You--” he coughed, “--you sure?” Yuuri hadn’t been expecting this. He had been expecting to move into his own apartment somewhere in town; moving in with Phichit was the last thing he thought would happen.

“Yeah, dude, I have an extra bedroom and it’s boring living alone. Besides, if we’re training together, it’ll be easier to room together too. Plus it’ll be cheaper for both of us… if you wanna split the rent and stuff, that is.”

Phichit had a point. That would be so much easier. They could get on a simultaneous training schedule with much less difficulty if they lived together. And they could save money. He was all about that. “Yeah, that would be awesome, thanks.”

“That’s what best friends are for, Yuuri. Dude we have so much catching up to do that we’re gonna need to room together just for that alone.” He was right. It wasn’t just about competition and training. It was about making up for the years they had been out of contact with each other.

Yuuri took another bite of his food. “Speaking of, what have you been up to?” Enough about him and Victor. He wanted to learn more about Phichit’s life since they had been apart.

“Reactivate your social media and you’ll find out,” Phichit smirked a devious smirk as he dove back into his bowl.

Yuuri resisted the urge to chuck his own bowl at his best friend. He settled for an exaggerated eyeroll instead.

“Haha, I’m just kidding. You don’t have to do that just yet. Anyway, I’ve been in Thailand most of the time working on the ice show. We did a tour through the country and it was a huge success. I think it’s really starting to bring figure skating to the forefront there, you know?” One of Phichit’s major complaints was that Thailand’s figure skating scene was rather small; it was good to hear that the show was helping it grow and evolve. “My assistant director is running it now that I’m back in the States to train for competition. The goal is to take it on a worldwide tour when I get back.”

“What made you decide to come back here to train?” Yuuri asked curiously.

“Familiarity, I guess? Nostalgia?” he shrugged. “In all honesty I’m not sure. I mean, I’m not in Detroit like I was before, but I was doing some research and I really loved the rinks around here. And the weather. It’s nice to be in a place that’s warm all year round. I probably would have stayed back in Thailand but the rinks still leave something to be desired, and since skating still hasn’t reached its full potential over there, I thought it would be better to train somewhere where figure skating was more widely known.”

Yuuri nodded. It made sense. “I guess being in a place where competing is so much more common makes it easier to train.” More coaches to work with, up to date coaching techniques, a bigger overall skating community… even though Phichit was still skating for Thailand it made sense that he would shift his training over to the US.

“Definitely. Speaking of competing, are you seriously gonna try to surprise Victor at competition?”

“Yeah, I’m not sure how I’m going to go about that, since my name and photo will be plastered everywhere once I’m slated to compete…if I’m slated to compete… but I want to try to surprise him if I can. If anything just to prove to him that I can do this. And I want the chance to talk to him without Yurio around.”

“Dude with your track record you’ll have nothing to worry about as far as getting slated to compete goes,” Phichit commented. “Not sure how you’re gonna hide this from Victor though...” he paused once more, his eyes lighting up a second later as an idea hit him like a bolt of lightning. “Yuuri! You can dress up in a disguise and change your name, then when you show up at competition you can reveal your true self!” He dramatically gestured removing a costume and posing, causing Yuuri to roll his chocolate brown eyes again as a huff of laughter escaped his lips.

“Phichit that sounds like something out of a fanfiction,” Yuuri responded simply.

“Fiction mirrors reality, Yuuri, and vice versa!”

Another eyeroll. “We’ll figure it out. In any case, before any of that, I need to see if I can even get my elements back so I _can_ compete.”

Finishing up his food, Phichit nodded. He took one last sip of his drink and signaled for the check once Yuuri had finished up as well. “We’ll get there. How about we take some time to rest up today and tomorrow we’ll get those glasses of yours fixed and then hit the gym and rink for some training? Sound good?”

“More than good.”

As they stood up and made their way back to Phichit’s car, Yuuri couldn’t help the swell of excitement and emotion fluttering in his heart. He was going to be staying with Phichit, he was going to train, and he was going to dive headfirst back into a world that he thought he had left behind for good.

Tomorrow was day one of his training. He couldn’t believe it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Training for Yuuri and Phichit starts next chapter! Yurio, Victor, and Otabek antics coming soon as well, followed by competition season kicking into full swing.  
> Trying to do a lot more writing because my hand is nearly back to normal. Still don't have all of my range of motion back, but it's getting there, thank goodness.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Which there is a Disruption

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Smut in this chapter. Oh my god it's been so long since I've written anything remotely sexual.

“ _You kicked him and you potentially broke his nose?”_ Otabek repeated over the phone, putting heavy emphasis on the “and.” He couldn’t deny that he was rather taken aback at the story that Yurio was telling him right now. The younger male had informed him via text that he had a lot to say about this past weekend and its Katsudon-encounters, but he wasn’t exactly expecting this to be part of it. _“You’re lucky he didn’t decide to press charges, Yura,”_ Otabek scolded. He knew that Yurio had a rather volatile nature, but hadn’t expected him to physically assault the other Yuri. Then again part of him should have expected it, given how many times Yurio had sent Katsuki flying back when they competed against each other. Otabek had just thought that Yurio was past that point of his life.

“I was pissed off,” Yurio grumbled, angry that he was being scolded like this but knowing full well that he deserved it. That didn’t mean he wanted to hear it though, especially since this was the second time he was being reprimanded for his actions at the rink. He had already gotten the speech from Victor, and now his boyfriend was chewing him out. This sucked. “I saw him and all of my fucking anger towards that piece of shit came flooding back. I couldn’t control myself.” Yurio paused. “Beka, he _ruined_ Victor,” Yurio spat, every word dripping with venom. A few tears started to prickle at the corner of his eyes. “Everything I’ve endured… all of the emotions I’ve kept secret… everything that Victor has dealt with… it just hit me all at once and my body started moving before my mind could catch up.” Ever since the breakup and the accident, Yurio had taken on a parental role that he never assumed he would ever take, especially at such a young age. The silver-haired male was so much older than him yet he was the one taking care of Victor. Sure, Victor had a team of professionals that were also responsible for assisting in his physical and mental well-being, but when they weren’t around, Yurio was the one who took on all of the duties that came with caring for someone post-injury. He was happy to do so; Victor was his closest friend, but his heart ached every time Victor struggled – physically or mentally. When the pain brought on by the sight of his friend suffering became too much, he did the only thing that even brought him an ounce of relief; he directed his frustration to the only target he could think of: Yuuri Katsuki.

“It didn’t help that I was running high that day too because Victor wanted me to skate before his stupid class,” the blond continued. As much as he didn’t want to even partially blame his illness for his actions, he really couldn’t deny that it did contribute to his outburst. Fluctuation, whether high or low, really messed with his emotions. He had always dealt with the occasional mood swing, but they were much more common post-diagnosis than they had been before.

“ _Still no excuse, Yura,”_ Otabek responded, frustration still enveloping his tone of voice. He knew that Yurio liked to skate when his sugar was a bit on the higher side of normal due to the fact that all of the exercise brought it down, and if he started off lower, it would only drop further into hypo territory. It still wasn’t an excuse for his actions though. _“Please tell me that if you see him again you won’t kick him, high or not.”_ Yurio was an adult; this behavior was unacceptable. Then again he had personally witnessed adults older than Yurio pull worse shit than this, but that still didn’t make this any more okay.

“I won’t see his ass again, thank fuck,” Yurio stated with a blunt confidence that had Otabek almost chuckling. He was so sure of what he was saying. “And even if I did, I wouldn’t kick him. Victor threatened to pull me from competition if I did. I made it through the weekend without fucking him up further, so give me credit for that at least.” That should be proof enough that if he saw that shitty Katsudon again, he wouldn’t get physical. He got that out of his system already.

“ _I’ll give you credit for that at least,”_ Otabek reassured him. He was at least glad that that was the beginning and the end of Yurio’s physical outbursts for the weekend. _“Anyway, how’s Victor doing?”_ he asked, figuring that he had scolded Yurio enough and that it was about time to change the subject.

Yurio flopped on his back, his head lightly bouncing against the pillows of his hotel room bed before settling comfortably. “I swear he’s so fucking energetic that it’s almost creepy.” Victor had gotten a decent amount of sleep on the plane thanks to the medication that Yurio had given him prior to their flight, and Yurio was certain that their plush and roomy first class seats did nothing but aid his friend in his quest for sleep. And boy was that quest fulfilled. Victor was completely recharged, while Yurio had been feeling the opposite. He always had trouble sleeping on planes, and Victor’s energy after they had gotten settled in their hotel room was almost too much for him to handle. “Every now and then he would start blathering on and on about that shitty Katsudon too. Made me want to fucking hurl. Thank fuck he’s gone right now.” Yurio had gotten completely and utterly fed up with Victor’s blabbering, so he had guilt tripped him into a trip to the store.

“ _You’re alone right now?”_ Otabek asked, his tone lifting slightly as he spoke.

Yurio nodded, stretching out on the bed as he did so and letting out a yawn. “Mmm hmm… told him I couldn’t survive on chalk and that I needed to follow his rules and rest for the competition…” Yurio trailed off. “And as a result he was more than happy to go to the store and get us some real food.” Sure they had a few snacks and sodas, so he had more to eat than just glucose tablets, but he would milk his situation for all it was worth if it meant he could stay back at the hotel and catch up with his boyfriend over the phone like this.

“ _Mmm, I see,”_ Otabek replied softly. _“Are you going to be practicing for your competition tomorrow?”_

“Yeah, Victor said that I could take it easy today – something about me needing rest after our long flight – so we’ll practice tomorrow and then I’ve got my SP the next day. I think it was more of an excuse for him to be honest. He was hurting most of the night so he didn’t sleep much.” That still didn’t explain where Victor’s burst of energy came from though. That he would just attribute to residual excitement over seeing Yuuri this past weekend. Stupid Katsudon. “What about you? You have a competition coming up soon too, right?”

“ _Yeah, last one before we gear up for next season. My coach is already talking about changing my triple axel entry for my next set of programs. Sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever get a break.”_

Yurio laughed. He felt the same way. It seemed like the moment he had a program perfected, Victor was already talking about the next one he was going to choreograph. It was a never-ending cycle. Yurio didn’t mind much though. He loved this sport, and loved the fact that the sport he was so passionate about happened to be what he did for a living too. “Same here. I swear downtime is not a fucking thing around here. What entry are you switching to?”

“ _Back counter.”_

“Lucky,” Yurio replied, a slight twinge of jealousy detectable in his voice. “Victor won’t fucking let me do anything but back spiral and spread eagle entries.” Yurio had been begging Victor to let him try a more difficult entry but Victor continuously refused.

“ _Reminds me of Yuuri Katsuki’s programs,”_ Otabek commented, thinking back to Yuuri’s days of competing and all of the spread eagle triple axel entries he witnessed during that time. 

Yurio huffed. “Don’t remind me. I swear it’s like he’s trying to project that shitty Katsudon’s life onto me. He tells me we can change my triple axel entry when I stop flutzing, but I think that’s just bullshit.”

“ _Stop flutzing and see what happens.”_ _  
_

“If he is trying to turn me into Katsuki, that shit isn’t gonna help at all.”

“ _I doubt Victor is trying to turn to you into him. If anything, it sounds to me like he still has feelings for Yuuri and is trying to preserve his memory however he can by adding elements from Yuuri’s programs to yours.”_

Just the thought of that royally pissed Yurio off even further. “So he’s projecting how he feels about that shitty Katsudon onto _my_ programs? Fucking hell after all that piece of shit did, don’t tell me you think Victor still has feelings for him.” Yurio was exasperated at this point.

Otabek sighed. _“It’s entirely possible,”_ he informed his boyfriend on the other end of the line.

Yurio’s grip on the phone tightened. “After all that fucking Katsudon put him through?”

“ _Yuuri isn’t the one at fault, Yura,”_ Otabek gently reminded Yurio. _"Remember that all of this started because Victor ch--"_ Yurio bristled and cut him off, immediately deflecting the conversation.

“Yeah yeah, can we change the subject? I just... I want to talk about you, not Katsuki." He wanted to enjoy talking to his boyfriend, not become increasingly more and more angry because of the Yuuri and Victor situation. He didn’t get to talk to Otabek like this very often, and all of this time being angry was time wasted.

“ _Sure,"_ Otabek replied, even though it had really been Yurio and not him that kept fixating on Yuuri Katsuki.  _"What about me?"_ he asked curiously. 

“Everything. What have you been up to?"

 _"Honestly?"_ Beka questioned.  _"Just skating. And traveling. Same as_ you." Same as Yurio minus the addition of Victor's antics. Otabek hadn't had much time lately for anything but work and travel.  _"I'm glad I have this free time today so I can actually hear your voice."_ They kept up over text, but it was these rare moments in which they could speak to one another on the phone that he really appreciated.  _"I've missed you. I can't wait for this season to be over so I can come visit you."_ He was going to stay with Yurio and Victor and train with them at their home rink, and he couldn't be more excited.  _"Makes me want to get this next competition the hell over with already."_

"I can’t wait to watch you skate in your competition. You're going to kick ass. And then we get to train together. God it's going to be amazing,” Yurio said softly as he calmed down from his flare of anger just a moment ago. The thought of being able to see the man that he loved so much made his heart light. Otabek didn’t know but he and Victor were planning on flying out after Yurio’s competition to make it to Otabek’s and surprise him by showing up to watch him skate in his final competition of the season. It went without saying that Yurio was beyond ecstatic to see him in person. “You’re…” he trailed off, thinking of how much Otabek’s programs had changed since they first met. Otabek wasn’t just skating for himself or for Kazakhstan… he was skating for Yurio too. He had told Yurio as much, but Yurio had picked up on it long before Beka had mentioned it. His presentation had changed entirely. When Otabek was on the ice, it was like he was speaking a language only Yurio could understand, the true translation of his programs lost on the spectators and judges. “You’re fucking incredible, you know that?”

Otabek smiled into the phone. _“_ _I’ll be watching_ _your competition too. I’m really looking forward to it.”_ His voice was breathy on the other end of the line. _"Every time you step onto the ice it’s perfection,”_ Otabek exhaled, his mind filled to the brim with images from Yurio’s latest programs: Yurio gliding so effortlessly on the ice and flying through the air with each jump, his costumes tight against his toned body, rhinestones sparkling under the rink lights. Otabek felt like the luckiest man on earth to have Yurio as his significant other. God he loved the blond so much. _“_ _You’re going to be… ah… amazing.”_ Otabek’s voice hitched at the end of that last word, which was something that did not go unnoticed by Yurio.

“Beka?” the blond questioned, emerald eyes narrowed and an eyebrow raised in confusion. “You okay?”

“ _Mmm, more than okay,”_ Otabek whispered in response, his eyes slipping shut and a sigh escaping his lips at the sound of Yurio’s voice. _“_ _Never better.”_

Yurio could have sworn that his brain short circuited in an instant, and he spoke up a brief moment later as the connection between his mind and mouth re-established itself. “Beka are you fucking jerking off?” he asked incredulously, disbelief and arousal simultaneously fighting for dominance in his body.

“ _Mmm, not yet,”_ Otabek answered honestly, his left hand loosely gripping his phone at his ear and his right gently caressing over the crotch of his tight black jeans, teasing the bulge that was forming with steady strokes. _“You’re still alone, right?”_ he asked, his right hand moving towards the button of his jeans as he spoke.

Fuck. Yurio _was_ still alone. They could fucking do this. “Y-Yeah, I’m still alone,” Yurio practically squeaked, his throat tightening and his breath hitching as another wave of arousal coursed through his body. “ Fuck. I want you,” he almost groaned. It had been too long since he had _any_ type of sexual contact with Beka. All of their travel really put a damper on their sex life. This needed to be remedied sooner rather than later. His free hand found itself slinking below the waistband of his gray sweatpants, eagerly palming at his quickly-hardening erection that lay just below the confines of his boxer briefs. He closed his eyes, soft breaths escaping his lips as he teased himself over the fabric of his underwear, enjoying every moment of bliss-filled friction that came with each stroke of his fingers. “Want you so goddamn bad.”

“ _What do you want?”_ Otabek asked, and Yurio could have sworn that he heard the sound of a zipper being drawn downwards. He certainly didn’t miss the long, drawn-out moan that followed as Otabek released his throbbing length from his own pants and gave the flushed skin a firm stroke from base to tip, his fingers gathering up the beads of precome that had formed there before sliding back down and up again, slowly establishing a steady rhythm.

“Want you to fuck me,” Yurio whined, pulling his own aching cock out of his pants and giving it a series of sharp strokes. “Fuck, Beka, I want your cock in my ass so bad.” God he couldn’t wait to see Otabek in person. All he could think of was the feeling of Otabek’s hot, hard cock buried deep in his ass, hitting that sweet spot deep inside him with each and every strong thrust, and it was enough to drive him absolutely crazy. “Want you to fill me up and make me come with just my ass.” While he loved to fuck Beka, right now he _really_ wanted Beka to be the one to fuck him – to press him against the bed or the wall or over the kitchen table and just fuck him relentlessly. The thought alone had him moaning.

“ _Yura…”_ Otabek trailed off, the shuffling and slapping sounds of his hand against his cock becoming all the more apparent to Yurio on the other end of the line. _“Want to fuck you too. Want to watch you fall apart beneath me,”_ he almost whispered, his softened voice sending shivers down Yurio’s spine. His eyes were still softly shut, and his hips were now rocking ever so slightly with each thrust of his cock up into his hand, the copious amounts of precome leaking from the tip providing plenty of lubrication for every stroke. Otabek’s mind was filled with vivid images of Yurio writhing with want beneath him. Oh how he couldn’t wait to see his lover. He couldn’t wait to pepper his soft lips with kisses, and to run his tongue between those teeth and into his hot and waiting mouth. He wanted nothing more than to continue to work his way down, nipping and sucking at the hard, pink buds of Yurio’s nipples, to stroke his abdomen and inner thighs with feather-light touches, and to take his hard, aching cock into his mouth, teasing and sucking until he could feel it pulsate with his approaching orgasm. He would then release Yurio’s cock from his mouth, flip him over, and thoroughly prepare him before thrusting inside his hot, tight entrance. Just the thought was pulling Otabek closer and closer to his orgasm.

Yurio wasn’t far behind at all. He could feel the coil within his abdomen begin to tighten as he approached his climax. “Beka… I’m… I’m close,” he managed to exclaim between breathy moans, his hand working his cock firm and fast, his thumb flicking over the head of his length with each upward thrust of his wrist.

“ _Ah...me...me too. T-Together,”_ Beka encouraged, his heart rate and his breathing speed increasing dramatically as he picked up the pace of his strokes, his hips moving more and more erratically the closer he came to his release.

“Gonna come...” Yurio cried out, his body contracting with the impending waves of orgasm ready to crash over him and wash him away.

“ _Fuck...Yura… I’m coming!”_ Otabek exclaimed, his back arching and his body convulsing as his orgasm erupted from his pulsing cock, painting his hand and shirt with ropes of his white, sticky semen.

At the same time the coil inside of Yurio snapped, and with one final flick of the wrist, he released, his orgasm wracking his entire body. “Beka, I’m com--” He was cut off by the sound of the very _last_ voice that he wanted to hear right now.

“Yuri!! I’m back from the store! Come help me make dinn--" Victor stopped in his tracks at the sight of Yurio completely blissed out from his climax, body still jerking slightly but green eyes wide open in shock as the last waves of orgasm washed over him, his cock still spurting his seed all over his hand and black t-shirt. "Oh now don’t stop on my account,” Victor _giggled_ from the open doorway to their shared bedroom. He had to admit the sight of Yurio mid-orgasm was the last thing he expected to walk in on. He spoke up once more when Yurio's orgasm subsided. “But if you  _are_ finished, you're more than welcome to help me work on dinner,” he grinned, gripping the rims of his wheels and zooming off before the pillow that Yurio threw could make contact with his body.

“Fucking old man, I’ll kill him, I swear,” Yurio grumbled into the phone, still slightly delirious from the force of his orgasm.

Otabek chuckled. He knew that he shouldn’t laugh and that this situation was just as awkward for him as it was for Yurio(okay maybe Yurio’s position was _slightly_ more awkward but still), but he couldn’t help it. Sometimes it was easier to laugh at awkward situations. _“I’m sorry, Yura. You have to admit, it is kind of funny.”_ Otabek must have still been coming down from his own orgasm to find this so amusing. Once the high wore off Yurio had to wonder if his boyfriend would feel the same.

“Asshole is never going to let me live this down,” Yurio growled.

“ _I’m sure it’ll be fine. I mean, it’s not like you haven’t walked in on him before.”_ That was true. Yurio had the (dis)pleasure of accidentally walking in on Victor and Yuuri more often that he would like to admit. Those two had a habit of doing it anywhere and anytime they pleased, it seemed.

“It’s different when the roles are reversed,” responded Yurio with all of the disdain in the world for Victor right now.

“ _It’ll be okay. It’s probably out of his mind by now. Get cleaned up and get something to eat, okay? Text me if you need anything.”_

“I will. Love you.”

“ _I love you too, Yura.”_

* * *

Dinner was an awkward affair. Yurio didn’t want to look Victor in the eye let alone speak to him.

“Here, Yuri, can you chop up these vegetables for me?” Victor asked as he passed a selection of cabbage, carrots, onions, and potatoes to the younger male. Victor figured that he would take on the job of cutting up the meat products he had purchased today, and that he would allow Yurio to handle the vegetables. While Yurio wasn’t opposed to eating meat, he certainly didn’t like touching it. Yurio simply nodded and got to work, slicing and dicing all of the vegetables into small pieces before adding all but the cabbage and celery to the skillet. Those he added to the pot on the other burner along with water, spices, and beef flavoring to create the base of the soup. By the time he had finished, Victor was done cubing the ham, chicken, and sausage, and soon added those along with some tomato paste to heat up as well before checking on the soup base in the pot that he had on the stove. He had decided to make a pot of solyanka tonight. It was hearty and relatively easy to make, and it would let him take advantage of the full kitchen that they had. Oh how he loved hotels with full kitchens. They got lucky with this hotel too. Even the kitchen was accessible to him. It was nice being able to reach the stove and see what he was doing. It made Yurio’s job a bit more difficult, since he had to lean over to help prepare the food, but he didn’t mind. He just enjoyed not having to deal with Victor complaining about being too short to reach the stove. Victor transferred the meat and vegetables into the pot with the soup base and added the final ingredients: capers, olives and stewed tomatoes(he had skipped adding in the white wine at this point – not wanting to even buy it to cook with) before setting a timer for twenty minutes to allow their dinner to simmer one last time before it would be ready to serve.

“Thank you for helping me with dinner, Yuri,” Victor smiled as he transferred to the couch after Yurio had returned from the kitchen, each of his freshly-washed hands carrying a bowl of soup. While this and most of the other hotels they stayed at had tables to sit at, the two more often than not just preferred to eat on the couch, using the coffee table as a table for their food and drinks.

“Da,” Yurio replied flatly. That had been the first word Yurio had said to Victor since Victor had walked in on him earlier. Much to Yurio’s surprise, Victor hadn’t brought it up yet, but that didn’t mean Yurio would drop his guard so soon. No, he was expecting it. A Victor that didn’t bring up something like… well, what had happened earlier was not the Victor he knew. He set both of their bowls on the coffee table and then grabbed their drinks from the kitchen(soda for Victor and a simple ice water for him), and set them down before plopping on the couch next to Victor, but keeping his distance due to their awkward as hell encounter earlier. Yurio busied himself with unzipping the small, black bag that he kept with him at all times and setting up his glucose meter with a test strip prior to preparing a lancet. Placing the tip against the skin of his finger, he pressed the button on the side of the device, the spring action causing the small needle to prick just below the surface of his flesh. He pulled the lancet away and gently squeezed his finger below where it had punctured, causing a small dot of bright red blood to well up from the site. He guided the test strip to his finger. It quickly wicked up the blood and the machine began a countdown. In a few short seconds he had the reading that he was looking for, and he made sure to record it in his phone before taking his pump from his pocket and into his hands, glancing down at his dinner and doing a few calculations in his head as he pressed a few buttons to deliver a bolus to cover his meal. Yurio returned his pump to his pocket and then reached for the remote control for the television, turning it on and trying to find something – anything – to distract himself from Victor’s presence.

It didn’t work.

“So Yuri,” Victor began as he took a bite of his soup.

Yurio nearly dropped the remote he had been holding. “What?”

“I know you’re reaching the age where your hormones are bouncing all over the place but I want you to remember to practice safe sex when you and Otabek are together. Don't forget that proper preparation is key, and that begins before you even start to sleep together. Try to avoid any negative outside influences as well. Be mindful of your surroundings and be sure to keep all lines of communication open."

This time Yurio _did_ drop the remote, but only so his palm could quickly fly up to meet his face in an expression of exasperation. “Are you fucking with me? You had this damned conversation with me on my sixteenth birthday, and that was just the _first_ time. You’ve gone on and on about it fuck knows how many times, and now you’re blabbering on about it _again_? Stay out of my shit, old man.” Victor’s pestering him about his sex life became even more frequent after Victor’s breakup and accident.

Victor just chuckled. “I just want to make sure you’re being responsible, Yuri.” Yurio was responsible for a lot of things: his health, his skating practice, and even Victor to some extent, but Victor didn’t ramble about those things with the same intensity as he did his sex life. “I... want to make sure you're being smart about things.”  _"Unlike me,_ _"_ was left unsaid. 

Yurio was on the verge of dumping his soup on Victor’s head, but he settled for shoving a bite into his mouth instead. He took a few moments to chew and then swallow, seemingly in deep thought for the entire duration. “I know,” he finally replied, his tone of voice much more subdued than before. “I am, Victor. You don’t have to worry about me.” Yurio had been sexually active for years now, but if it made Victor feel better to let him know every now and then that he was still being responsible about it, well, he supposed he could manage that. 

“Thank you, Yuri, for humoring me.” Victor smiled softly as he took another bite of his dinner. “By the way,” he stated matter-of-factly after he had finished chewing. “If you want to avoid people walking in on you, perhaps you should consider shutting and locking the door?”

Yurio bristled, but still managed to bite back. “Oh? Like you did all those times I walked in on you and Katsudon fucking like goddamn rabbits?”

“Consider this my revenge for all of those times?” Victor replied, more of a question than a statement.

“Fine,” Yurio relented as he went back to his meal.

At least _that_ was over.

* * *

Needless to say, Phichit and Yuuri’s day went much, much differently.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I lied when I said Phichit and Yuuri antics in this chapter. I got to writing and was going to add some of Phichit and Yuuri's day in here, but it was getting long so I opted to save them for the next chapter. I didn't want to sacrifice description, detail, or dialogue because the chapter length was starting to get up there. Phichit and Yuuri deserve their own chapter lol.
> 
> I know that it probably seems extremely weird that Yurio is directing so much blame towards Yuuri Katsuki and that he gets defensive when others bring up Victor's role in the whole situation, but I promise there is reasoning behind his behavior that will be revealed much later in the story. I'm not condoning Yurio's behavior at all, but I did want to establish that his words and actions are all part of a bigger picture that will be revealed as the puzzle pieces continue falling into place.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Which Training Begins

Yuuri was awakened by the smell of bacon frying in the kitchen. Chocolate brown eyes stuttered open and blinked away the night’s sleep as Yuuri pulled himself into a seated position in his – no, Phichit’s – bed. That was right. He was staying with Phichit now. This was his best friend’s guest room. He had almost forgotten where he was for a moment, but it was all coming back to him now as he surveyed the blurry surroundings of the room he resided in. It was simple, that was for sure, and it kind of reminded him of his own apartment. A light tan layer of paint coated the walls and the carpet nearly matched. There was a desk in one of the corners, covered with books about hamsters and figure skating, as well as a small nightstand next to the bed and a chest of drawers across from the bed with a television conveniently placed on top. A window on the wall beside the bed let just enough morning light in behind the blinds, and the remaining wall contained the door that led to the attached bathroom. It was nice, despite being a little plain. Then again it was just a guest room and Phichit was obviously renting the place so he probably didn’t want to go overboard with the decorating because of that. Then again, he had yet to see Phichit’s room so he could be way off on that assumption. Yuuri had arrived at Phichit’s house after their meal and after a bit of small talk and laughs over hamster videos online, promptly fell asleep on the couch. All he could recollect after that was Phichit waking him up a few hours later and leading him to his bedroom, assuring him that he would get a much better night’s sleep there compared to the living room couch. And Phichit was right. Yuuri hadn’t slept that hard in a long while. It was nice to wake up feeling somewhat refreshed for a change.

Yuuri yawned, stretching his arms as he did so and screwing his eyes shut to shake off the last bit of sleep that clung to him and then leaned towards the bedside table, reaching over to pluck his glasses off of its surface and then slip them onto his face, wincing when he accidentally ended up bumping his nose with them. Once the world around him came into focus, he threw the blanket off of his legs and stepped onto the fluffy carpet, making his way to his suitcase that sat along one of the walls and unzipping it. He grabbed a pair of black sweatpants and a navy t-shirt along with his toiletry bag and then stepped into the bathroom and examined the interior, surprised to see that there was already a supply of soap and shampoo in the shower for him to use. Phichit was always so prepared. He set his clothes and bag on the counter, took a moment to relieve himself, then flipped on the shower, stripped-down, removed his glasses, and hopped in, simply enjoying the feeling of the warm water against his skin for several long minutes before scrubbing himself down and then proceeding to hover under the warm water for several more minutes after he was clean.

He stepped out, dried himself off on one of the many fluffy white towels that Phichit had loaded the cabinets up with and then got himself dressed in his clean clothes, finishing with returning his glasses to his face. He opened his bag, pulled out his toothbrush and toothpaste, and brushed. After rinsing his mouth and taking one last look at his poor nose in the mirror, he ventured out of the bedroom and into the kitchen where Phichit was excitedly cooking breakfast.

“Morning Yuuri!” Phichit exclaimed, glancing up from the pan of frying bacon to greet his new roommate. “Sleep well?”

Yuuri nodded. “Mmm,” he smiled, surveying the spread of food that Phichit had already prepared. Eggs, bacon, toast, pancakes, assorted juices and fresh fruits – it looked like enough for a small army. “How long have you been up?” His best friend had to have awakened at the ass crack of dawn to put this all together. “Did you even sleep last night?”

Phichit laughed. “Of course I did! I wanted to make a big meal to celebrate our first official day as roommates and training buddies! And we have a big day ahead of us so we need a big breakfast to get us ready for it.” Yuuri couldn’t really argue with him there. After they got his glasses fixed they were going to dive right into training. He could use all of the energy that he could get to jumpstart his day.

“Yeah, that makes sense. But wow… this is a lot.”

“Plenty of leftovers for tomorrow!”

“Good point,” Yuuri paused, taking a moment to get a _really_ good look at his roommate. “Uhhh… Phichit?”

“Yeah?”

“What on earth are you wearing?” Yuuri asked, a mixture of disbelief and amusement flowing through his entire being at the sight of Phichit’s bright blue sleep pants and matching button-up sleep shirt. That wasn’t the amusing part though. Printed onto the bright blue fabric were small pictures of hamsters that looked suspiciously familiar… and said hamsters were each wearing their own little set of brightly colored pajamas.

Phichit practically giggled as he transferred the bacon to a paper towel-lined plate. “You like?” he asked, still grinning wildly. “They’re hammies in jammies pajamas! I designed them myself!”

“Hammies in… ja-- you... designed…” Yuuri trailed off and shook his head, his brain seemingly malfunctioning for a moment and his mouth opening and closing much like a fish out of water. Forget waking up refreshed this morning; Yuuri apparently needed more sleep. “It’s too early for this. I’m going back to bed,” he yawned, turning to return to his room before Phichit stopped him in his tracks.

“Yuuuri you’re so meeean, leaving me after I made us all of this amazing food!” he whined.

Yuuri laughed, turning back around and plopping down at the kitchen table. “I’m just kidding. Let’s eat.”

Phichit set the last of the bacon on the table with the rest of the food and sat down across from Yuuri. “That’s my Yuuri!” he stated rather proudly as he dished up plates of breakfast for the both of them. “I’m thinking about mass producing these and selling them,” the Thai man informed Yuuri as he drizzled some syrup on his pancakes and took a bite.

Yuuri did the same and nodded. “You should. Honestly your fans would eat those up.”

“My thoughts exactly, but that’s a project for another time. For now we need to focus on training.”

“Tell me about it. I’m beyond out of shape. It’s going to be a mission just to get back to where I was physically when I used to compete.” Yuuri hadn’t really kept up with any sort of exercise regimen, aside from walking to and from work… and the physicality that came along with his job. It hadn’t been enough though. He had still gained a fair bit of weight and he could tell that he didn’t have nearly the same stamina or muscle strength that he’d had back then.

Phichit took a sip of juice and regarded Yuuri’s words with seriousness before speaking. “Don’t worry, Yuuri, we’ll get you back to where you were before. I know it’s stressful trying to get back into the game after so long, but if anyone can do it, it’s you. You’re not one to give up easily. And I’ll be right there beside you to motivate you along the way. No way in hell would I let you tackle this all alone.”

“Thank you, Phichit. You have no idea how much I appreciate that.” Yuuri really couldn’t put it into words how much he appreciated his best friend right now. After all of this time – after all of these years – Phichit was right there to support him. Yuuri had been so afraid that his best friend wouldn’t want to give him the time of day after the shit he pulled, and was pleasantly surprised when he was presented with the exact opposite result. They had fallen back into their old rhythm so easily, and he was sure the same would apply to their training. It would be just like their days at their old Detroit rink: the two of them working hard on achieving their own goals yet still being there for each other and supporting one another in the process. When friends competed against one another it was sometimes hard to motivate the other person and cheer them on, but Yuuri and Phichit had no trouble doing just that. If one ended up placing higher than the other, instead of animosity there would be congratulations. _That_ was the kind of amazing friendship the two of them had. It wasn’t about winning or losing – it was about sharing their passion for skating with one another.

“Any time, Yuuri. I’m just so excited to be working with you again. It’ll be just like the old days, you know?”

A nod from Yuuri. “Mmm, what’s the plan for today anyway?” He remembered discussing it briefly the day before but honestly he was still convinced none of this was real and needed a bit of reassurance that it still was.

“I was thinking we could go drop your glasses off to get fixed and then head to the gym for some off ice before hitting the rink. Sound good? I’m not sure if they’ll be able to fix your glasses right away though, so would you be okay going without them until they’re done with them?” Phichit asked as he finished the last bite of his pancakes. Phichit didn’t wear glasses so he had no idea how any of this worked. “Unless you wear contacts now,” he laughed. “If that’s the case, disregard that last question.”

Yuuri shook his head and chuckled. “Nah, haven’t made the leap to contacts yet.” He had tried them once but wasn’t really a fan. “I’ll be fine going without them if I need to.” He could see – not very well – but he could see. If he could skate without his glasses then he could function just fine without them for as long as needed.

"Sounds like a plan. You finished?” Phichit asked, glancing down to Yuuri’s now-cleaned plate.

“Yep. It was really good. Thank you again.”

“Anytime,” Phichit smiled, standing up and starting to gather up dirty plates and cups, “I’ll get the food put up and then change real quick so we can get this day started.”

Yuuri stood up to help. “I’ve got the food taken care of. You get ready.”

“Are you sure?”

“Dude we’re roommates now. It would be weird if I didn’t help out around the house.”

“Ha, good point,” Phichit laughed. “I leave the cleaning endeavors to you, my friend!” With a salute, Phichit made his way to his room to get dressed and ready for the day.

* * *

The two had piled in the car in record time and Phichit took the wheel and drove them to drop off Yuuri’s glasses to have them repaired. As Yuuri handed his glasses and a copy of his prescription over, he was informed that they could replace the lenses but it would take time, which was pretty much what he had expected going into everything, so he resigned himself to going without his eyewear for the time being. He would manage. After a while he kind of got used to everything being blurry.

With stop number one down, Phichit continued to drive until coming upon a large sports complex settled amongst a series of incredibly nice neighborhoods. Pulling into the parking lot, Yuuri could make out tennis courts and what looked to be a sign for a rehabilitation and physical therapy center as well as the gym entrance. “Here we are!” Phichit exclaimed as he parked the car. “So this is the gym side of the building, and the rink is on the other side. Pretty cool, huh?” 

“Really cool.” It was nice that the rink was part of the sports complex. It meant they wouldn’t have to do any extra traveling today to get to the rink.

“Come on, let’s go in and I’ll show you around.” Phichit was already planning on getting Yuuri signed up for a gym membership here, as well as a freestyle ice punch card. It was cheaper that way. He would do that later. For now he would get Yuuri in on a guest pass for the day, and they would handle memberships and ice time after their initial workout was complete.

He excitedly led Yuuri inside the massive white building and down a short hallway that opened up into the main complex. It took Yuuri a moment to register that they were on a walkway on the second floor, and below them on either side were Olympic sized swimming pools. He swore he saw a hot tub or two down there as well. Further down, the walkway opened up into a series of walkways all above the complex which included a huge gym with equipment neatly lined up and facing large televisions mounted on the walls, basketball and racquetball courts, entrances to locker rooms, yoga and pilates studios, and even a few health food restaurants. The entire building had one wall that was entirely glass to let natural light in from inside. It was amazing. Yuuri couldn’t believe how much this place offered, and he was so focused on taking everything in that he didn’t hear Phichit talking to him at first.

“---and just go down those stairs for the main gym, those for the courts and the pools. The locker rooms each have a private hot tub too. And there’s a full spa through that door right there. There are elevators down that hall to the right and,” he pointed, “that door down there leads into the ice rink, and the one on the opposite side leads out to the tennis courts. Down that hall is all of the medical facilities too.”

“Wow… this place is incredible.”

“Isn’t it?” Phichit grinned. “Now you know why I like it here. I found out that this rink was attached to all of this and was like ‘That’s it. This is where I’m moving to do my training’ and the rest was history!”

Yuuri could see why. It had always been kind of frustrating to have to travel all the way from the gym to the rink if he wanted to get some skating in after a workout. This put everything all in one place, and it wasn’t too far from Phichit’s apartment either. It was a great location over all. It even got Yuuri wondering if he should experiment with some other sports while he was here, just for the fun of it. He could even incorporate it into his training, and he was sure that Phichit would be up for some tennis or basketball to mix things up a bit. His friend was always up for new things. “Yeah, it’s really great. I’m not sure where to even start,” he breathed, surveying the surroundings yet again. He would be even more excited when he could see this place clearly. All the more reason to get his glasses back sooner rather than later.

“Well, I got you all set up on my guest pass while you were admiring the view so we can start wherever you want,” Phichit grinned, and Yuuri couldn’t help but detect a bit of slyness in that grin. Phichit had plans. He was going to torture Yuuri today. “What’s with that look, Yuuri?” Phichit asked, detecting a bit of a grimace on Yuuri’s features. “We’re going to start you nice and easy today.”

“So you say that,” Yuuri responded as Phichit led him down one of the stairways down to the gym equipment.

Phichit just smiled that mischievous smile again and brought a tan hand to Yuuri’s back, gently patting it for reassurance. “You’ll be fine! Let’s warm up with some cardio first!”

* * *

“Phichit…. I’m dying here….” Yuuri gasped, trying to keep his breathing steady, his hands gripping the handrails of the machine with all of the strength he could muster for the job, his skin and t-shirt drenched in sweat from the intensity of his workout. Whoever invented a perpetual stairway ascent was on Yuuri’s hit list for sure.

“Just five more minutes, Yuuri!” Phichit encouraged, practically floating up the stair climber machine next to Yuuri’s while Yuuri struggled to keep his legs from collapsing beneath him. “You can do it! Smile!”

“Phichit are you _seriously_ filming this!?” Yuuri exclaimed, absolutely exasperated at the thought of being recorded right now. “Wasn’t filming the treadmill disaster enough for you?” Needless to say Phichit maaay have cranked the treadmill speed up a little too high and nearly sent Yuuri flying. Thank goodness for emergency stops on the machines.

Phichit chuckled. “You’ll thank me later when you can look back at this and see all the progress you made, Yuuri.”

Yuuri couldn’t argue there. He really did like to see physical evidence of his improvement. It was why he liked filming his skating practices, and why he liked going back and watching and re-watching old programs – to see how far he had come and to see what he needed to improve on. It was good motivation, and motivation was always something he needed to keep at the forefront of his mind, which was something Phichit was extremely good at. It was just one of the things that made him an excellent workout partner.

“Yeah…. you’re… you’re right… but I swear… if that goes up online...” Yuuri huffed, the searing pain in his legs making it difficult to finish his sentence.

“It won’t, it won’t! You have my word. This is for your eyes only. And mine. Because I’m filming it.”

“Fine, fine….” Yuuri panted. “Phichit I can’t do this.” His legs seriously felt like they were going to give out. Who knew walking up stairs was this much of a pain in the ass.

“Yes you can! Just two more minutes! Try to focus on something other than the workout. Watch the T-- oh wait your eyesight sucks right now – uhhh… listen to the music they’re pumping through the place!” A pause. “Or better yet, I can sing for you!”

“Please no.”

“You’re no fun.”

“No, I’m dying.”

Phichit rolled his eyes. “You’re such a drama queen.”

“You sure you’re not talking about yourself?” Yuuri grunted, fighting the urge to give up then and there. Just a few more seconds left.

Phichit laughed. “Not this time. Anyway, you’re almost done. Just a few more seconds…” he paused for dramatic effect, “...and… done!” he cheered, reaching over and shutting Yuuri’s machine off before turning his own off and gently stepping from it. “You did it, Yuuri! I told you that you could!”

Yuuri’s exit from the machine was more of a stumble, but he at least managed not to fall over, even though he felt as though he was on the verge of doing just that. They hadn’t even done much yet, either. He really was out of shape. He took a moment to lean against the machine and catch his breath, silently cursing the stair climber’s existence right now. “Are you... sure... I’m not… dead? Because I... feel dead,” he gasped, greedily reaching for the bottle of water that Phichit passed to him and taking a long sip, pulling the bottle away to breathe before taking one more.

“You’re not dead, dude. You just need to work on getting your stamina back. And it’ll get there the more you work on it. This is just day one. Now, how about we give those legs of yours a break and work on arms and abs?”

Yuuri sighed, really not wanting to but knowing this was necessary. “Bring it on.”

* * *

If Yuuri wasn’t dying before then he was _definitely_ dying now. His arms and his abdominal muscles were screaming, and he hadn’t been working with nearly as much weight as he had when he had been actively competing. His legs were still wobbling beneath him as well, and he was concerned about skating later. Knowing his luck he would end up breaking something the moment he stepped out onto the ice due to his entire body giving up on him and sending him crashing to the slick surface below. Yuuri was starting to get worried if he would ever get back to where he was before, but kept reminding himself(which Phichit’s help of course) that this was just the first day and improvement would come.

“Good job Yuuri for sticking it out to the end on that last set!” Phichit grinned widely, patting Yuuri on the back as his best friend sat down at one of the tables in front of the smoothie stand that was nestled among the other health food stations. “I’m gonna grab us each a smoothie to celebrate. What kind do you want?”

“Surprise me,” Yuuri replied from his seat, his mind and body too worn down from the workout to think properly right now.

Phichit winked, heading off and returning a moment later with matching smoothies for each of them. “Mango, peach, orange, and banana. My favorite,” he informed his best friend as he took a sip of his own drink.

Yuuri did the same. “It’s good. Thanks.”

“Any time. You still up for the rink after this?”

“To be honest… I don’t know if I’ll even be able to stand up on the ice after all we just did.”

Phichit was silent for a moment. “Well, I don’t want to push you too hard, but I do want to show you an element I’ve been working on, so would you be down for just skating around for a bit? We’ll save serious practice for later. I just want to get your opinion on my new spin variation.”

Yuuri supposed he could do that. If anything, that would give him a chance to just stroke around and re-familiarize himself with the ice, while it would give Phichit the opportunity to get Yuuri’s critique on an element. The thought of just having a bit of a fun skating day after working out sounded nice too. “Sure, we can do that.”

“Perfect!”

* * *

The cool rink air was a welcome relief to Yuuri’s sweaty body and sore muscles. He finally felt himself start to relax as he sat down at the bench to put his skates on. After lacing up, he took a moment to glance around the rink. It was an incredibly nice facility. The boards were pristine and the quality of the ice itself was nothing short of amazing. All of the lines and circles on the ice looked as if they had been freshly painted recently, and the zamboni doors were solid, unlike the bent and broken ones at the rink back home. The stands were well-maintained as well and the entire rink was brightly lit and welcoming. Even the pro shop, skate rental stand, and snack bar were all well-organized, and the rubber flooring that tied everything together was free of holes and divots. All in all Yuuri was extremely impressed by the sight and he soon found himself finding a bit of extra energy to skate today.

“You ready, Yuuri?” Phichit asked as he finished tying his skates and stood up. “I went ahead and got you a series too. Call it my gift to you.”

“You… are you serious?” Yuuri asked. He didn’t even see Phichit go to the front desk. He had been too busy admiring the place. “You didn’t have to do that. I can pay you back...”

Phichit shook his head. “Nope, this is a present for coming all the way out here to train with me.”

“You sure?”

“Positive. When this one runs out you can pay for the next one. Deal?” Sure, he had been offered free ice when he came here for the first time, but Phichit always liked to pay for his ice time, and he knew that Yuuri was the same. It was all about supporting the local rinks – something he was more than happy to do, because the only way the sport would grow was through support. It was why he was so passionate about donating to the rinks back in Thailand. He wanted to reach as many people as he could with figure skating and share his love for the sport with anyone and everyone that he could.

“Deal.” It was still an incredibly nice thing for Phichit to do, and Yuuri couldn’t be more appreciative. He couldn’t be more appreciative of everything Phichit had done, really. From forgiving him for disappearing to helping him get a flight out here to letting him stay at his place and train with him… his friend had really gone above and beyond. He only hoped that he could return the favor to him.

“Good, now come on let’s go skate before the ice melts!” Phichit smiled, taking one of Yuuri’s hands into his own and leading him through the glass doors of the lobby that led into the main rink. “We’re lucky too. This freestyle is empty! Yuuri we get the whole ice to ourselves!”

“Yeah, it’s awesome,” Yuuri responded as he took off his guards and stepped onto the ice. It felt so smooth and soft under his blades. The ice back at his home rink was kept a little too cold to be conducive for figure skating, so the softer ice here was a welcome relief. He stepped back away from the door and allowed Phichit to remove his guards and step on the ice as well, the two of them taking off a moment later, simply stroking the perimeter of the rink and enjoying the feeling of their edges against the ice and the cool wind in their faces. Yuuri simply let the ice take over and soon found himself working on basic moves in the field – stroking, crossovers, waltz eights, spirals, three turns and mohawk sequences and a few twizzles here and there – just letting the ice guide him and keeping things relaxed and fun after a busy day of working out.

* * *

“Yuuri!” Phichit called out from the boards near the hockey box after taking a sip of his water. “Can I show you my spin variation now?” he asked, skating over to the center where Yuuri was working on a little improvised step sequence.

"Right mohawk, cross right... left mohawk, cross left... right back outside three, mohawk... back cross roll, back cross roll... right back outside three..." Yuuri mumbled to himself as he walked through the footwork before stopping in his tracks and nodding at the sound of Phichit's voice. “Yeah,” he smiled, “go for it.”

“Okay so it’s a sit spin variation I’ve been working really hard on. You gotta tell me if I should use it in competition.”

“I can do that. Show me.”

Phichit’s grin widened as he executed a few backwards crossovers before riding a deep right back inside edge and stepping back into the circle on a left forward outside edge. He then hooked around and snapped his right leg forward and began to lower himself into his spin position. Yuuri watched as Phichit continued to rotate, sitting lower and lower until he was literally just spinning on the ice on his butt, using his hands to keep himself going after the momentum let up a bit, all the while giggling like a mad man. “I call it the butt spin, Yuuri! What do you think? Pretty impressive, huh?” he laughed as he came to a stop, still sitting on the ice and looking up at his best friend.

Yuuri couldn’t help it. A smile spread across his face and he too began to laugh. He had to grip his stomach because laughing simply hurt his abs even more, but there was no way that he could stop now that he started. Yuuri lowered himself onto the ice next to his friend and stifled his laughter for a moment as he reached out and put a hand on Phichit’s shoulder. Holding back giggles, he spoke up. “Yes, Phichit. That was perfection. Absolute perfection. Plus five GOE for sure.” It was at that moment that he failed to contain himself and he was once again laughing out loud along with Phichit, the two of them eventually laying on their backs on the ice trying to recover, giggles escaping their lips every now and then. “I have no idea why that was so funny but oh my gosh it was,” Yuuri sighed happily after the giggles had subsided.

“Right? I thought so,” Phichit grinned. “You needed a good laugh, Yuuri.”

“You’re telling me. Thanks, man.”

“Any time. Hey, I don’t know about you but I’m freezing. You ready to call it?”

“Yeah, knowing you we’ll be back tomorrow anyway.”

“You know it.” Phichit winked. “But we’re not done here yet. I’ve got one more thing for us to do while we’re here.”

“Oh?”

“Follow me.”

* * *

The two removed their skates and returned them to their soakers and skate bags, lacing up their shoes a moment later before making their way back through the complex, Phichit keeping them to the lower level of the building and leading Yuuri into the locker room. “I figured we need a good soak after a hard day’s work,” he explained, gesturing to the hot tub that they had oh so conveniently stopped in front of.

“Dude as awesome as that sounds I don’t have swim trunks or anything,” Yuuri informed him. Unlike the hot springs back in Hasetsu he was certain that they needed to be clothed for the hot tubs here.

It was then that Phichit dramatically unzipped his bag and reached inside, pulling out two pairs of swim trunks. “I came prepared, Yuuri,” he stated, excitedly passing one pair to Yuuri.

“Are these even going to fit?” Yuuri asked. They had completely different body types – for now at least. Yuuri would get back into shape.

Phichit rolled his eyes. “Yes they will, I promise. Just get changed, okay? I’ll meet you back here.” With that, he made his way off to the changing area of the locker room.

Yuuri changed in a stall, still a bit self-conscious of his body to change out in the open, but he was happy to find out that the swim trunks did indeed stretch enough to fit his frame. He stuffed his clothes into his bag and returned to the hot tub where Phichit was already relaxing, letting the warm water loosen up his stiff and cold muscles from skating. “Hop on in, Yuuri, it feels incredible.”

Yuuri did as instructed and slowly lowered himself into the water, sighing a sigh of relief as the heat worked wonders on his sore body. “It’s not Hasetsu’s hot springs, but it’s really nice,” he breathed, closing his eyes and fully surrendering his body to relaxation.

“Isn’t it? But yeah, nothing compares to Hasetsu. How’s your family doing, by the way?”

Yuuri smiled. “They’re doing really well. Mom’s super excited to hear that I’m picking up skating again. She’s always talking about how she can’t wait to watch me skate.”

"We should send her some videos of our practice,” Phichit commented.

Yuuri thought for a moment. That he could do. It wasn’t social media, after all, just a direct message to his mother. “Yeah, she would love that.”

“She is your biggest fan after all.”

“Yeah, she’s really rooting for me to talk to Victor too.”

 Phichit cracked an eye open and looked towards Yuuri with a curious tilt of the head. “Does she want you two to get back together?”

 Yuuri shrugged. “I don’t think so. I mean, she knows what shit Victor pulled with me, so I really just think she just wants me to get to the point where I can forgive him and move on with my life, you know? Kinda just wipe the slate clean. One less thing to stress about, I guess.”

 Phichit sunk slightly deeper into the water, letting the warmth spread up to his shoulders and leaning the back of his head against the edge of the pool. “I still can’t believe you’re doing all of this. I do think… that Victor will appreciate your forgiveness though.”

“Yeah, he’s… had it rough. If I can take some of his stress away I’m willing to do that. I don’t know much about what he’s been dealing with, but it seems pretty bad.” Just from how Yurio spoke in regards to Victor, it seemed like Victor had done his fair share of suffering since the incidents.

“That’s my Yuuri, so noble,” Phichit chuckled. “All joking aside, that’s going to mean a lot to him. I don’t know all that much either but I do know that he hasn’t been the same since. Just from things I’ve heard online and things I’ve seen on TV, it seems like he’s a lot more subdued than he used to be. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was dealing with some major depression. Rumor has it that Yurio’s presence has been the only thing that’s really kept him from falling apart completely. The kid really stepped up. Apparently he moved in with Victor after he got hurt and basically became responsible for his recovery and rehabilitation. That’s a lot for someone as young as him.”

Yuuri was quiet, trying to fight guilt that was bubbling up inside. He had to remember that he didn’t cause this: Victor did. He wasn’t responsible for Victor’s actions. “I guess that explains why Yurio is so defensive when it comes to Victor – he’s seen everything firsthand. He’s been there to witness it all.”

“Yeah, sounds like he doesn’t want Victor to get hurt again.”

Another brief moment of silence. “I just wish he could see that Victor wasn’t the only one hurt in all of this,” Yuuri exhaled.

“I think deep down he does. That might be why it’s so painful for him to be around you.”

Phichit did have a point. “You do have a point.”

“Like I said, I’m no expert and I don’t know the full story, but maybe you’ll be able to find out through competing.”

“I hope so. I do want Victor to be able to move on too.” And Yuuri knew that the only way for that to happen was for Victor to gain his forgiveness. “And to be completely honest, what I want more than anything are answers. I want to understand--”

“Why everything happened the way it did in the first place?” Phichit finished Yuuri’s sentence for him.

Yuuri nodded. “Yeah.”

“You will.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

Phichit grinned. “I’m always right. Now come on, it’s getting late and I’m turning into a prune. Let’s get home and get some rest so we can hit up this place again tomorrow. We’ll get you back into shape and then we’ll pick your music and work your programs and get costumes and it will be amazing.”

“Yeah, sounds like a plan.”

Tomorrow couldn’t get here fast enough.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phichit and Yuuri antics as promised! I'm really looking forward to writing more of these boys. I love their friendship so much. Very brief mention of Victor here but there will be more in depth discussions between Phicit and Yuuri regarding him in future chapters. 
> 
> Buying a series = purchasing a bundle of x number of freestyle sessions for a cheaper overall price than just paying for walk on ice time each time.
> 
> Yuuri's little footwork sequence is one of my favorite things to do on the ice. I love back outside threes into mohawks and cross rolls


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Which the Off-Season Begins

“You’re awfully quiet.” Victor’s voice pierced the silence as he stole a quick glance towards the passenger’s seat where Yurio sat, head in his hand and staring out the window as they drove from the rink back to their hotel. “What’s going on? Are you feeling okay?” Yurio usually wasn’t this quiet or reserved after skating. Maybe he wasn’t feeling well, or perhaps he was simply burnt out from all of the traveling and competing. He did tend to get a bit tired towards the end of the season. It was a lot of stress to put on anyone. Victor knew all too well. He had been the same way back when he competed. “There’s some candy in the glove box if you want i--”

“’m fine,” the blond muttered, still focused on the scenery whizzing past them as they continued down the road. “I’m just so done with this season already.” That wasn’t the entirety of what was going on in his head right now, but it was a good enough excuse for the time being.

“I could tell. Your skating wasn’t as strong as it normally is. Seriously, what was with that sloppy triple axel out of the back spiral entry and the step out on your quad sal? That is your best jump, Yuri. And don’t even get me started on that flut--”

“Then don’t bring it up! Shit!” Yurio exclaimed, his outburst simply causing Victor to grin. That was what he wanted. Of course it was. Victor wanted Yurio to speak up, and what better way to do that than to bitch about his program. “Besides, you already chewed me out over everything at the rink. I’ll do better tomorrow. I have to.” Yurio’s free skate was scheduled for tomorrow morning, and he couldn’t be more ready to get it over with. He wanted to end the season on a clean skate, especially since Otabek had been watching and had noticed Yurio’s minor slip ups here and there. At least nothing had severely affected his placement. He was in the lead, and he intended to keep it that way. Tomorrow there wouldn’t be any room for error.

“You still did very well, Yuri. I’m proud of you. I know it’s rough, especially at the end of the season when you are ready for a break.” Victor chuckled. “I almost feel bad for dragging you along to all of the workshops. I know it’s a lot of added stress on top of competing.”

“Don’t feel bad. I like doing them,” Yuri Plisetsky admitted. It was more work, yes, but he wasn’t exactly complaining. He liked teaching others, and all of these workshops with Victor seriously made him consider a future in coaching. Perhaps after he retired from competing he would do just that. It would allow him to still be involved with the sport after all. That would be quite a long time from now, but it never hurt to think ahead to the future.

“I’m glad for that. If you didn’t enjoy teaching, I would have to find another assistant, and what a pain that would be.”

Yurio rolled his green eyes. “Well I’m so glad I can spare you the agony of hiring someone else to do your dirty work,” he responded, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“You do my dirty work better than anyone else!”

“That sounded so fucking wrong.”

Another chuckle from Victor, then a pause in conversation. Yurio once again shifted his focus out the window, green eyes peering past the golden hair of his bangs and taking in the view of the city as they drove. They had gotten off the highway just a moment ago, and now were navigating the roads of the historic downtown district that led to their hotel.

“Hey, asshole,” Yurio spoke up once again, not really wanting to ask the question that had been on his mind but deciding to bite the bullet and do it anyway because he knew it was going to consume him if he didn’t say something sooner rather than later.

“Hmm?”

“Are _you_ okay?” Yurio asked rather bluntly as he turned his head to look in the silver-haired man’s direction. Yurio had noticed a slight shift in Victor’s demeanor ever since they had parted ways with Yuuri Katsuki, and it was honestly starting to concern the younger Yuri. The shifts were brief, usually interspersed with Victor’s typical excited puppy dog – as Yurio put it – personality, but they were still noticeable enough to cause Yurio to worry a bit. Victor had seemed slightly down during dinner the other night, and he ended up spacing out in regular intervals during Yurio’s practice the day before. Today was the worst day so far. Victor had looked as if he had been about to cry after Yurio struck his final pose during the competition. Yurio had a feeling that Victor wasn’t handling the events of this past weekend as well as he had been letting on. It was like the initial excitement over seeing Yuuri had worn off and now depression and realization was setting in. Yurio didn’t like this shit one bit.

Victor simply laughed as he shifted the car into park. They had finally arrived back at their hotel, and Victor was looking forward to a shower followed by some rest and relaxation before tomorrow’s event. After that was all said and done, they would be on their way to watch Otabek skate, and then return home to rest up and train for the next season. Oh how he was looking forward to some downtime at home. All of this traveling was truly and utterly exhausting. “Yes, I’m fine, Yuri. Just a bit tired. And I’m not even the one skating so I can’t imagine how you’re feeling right now.”

Yurio didn’t really buy into Victor’s response, but he chose to let it go for the time being. That didn’t mean that he wasn’t going to keep an eye on Victor though, that was for sure. “My legs feel like they’re going to fucking fall off,” he commented, a rather curt tone to his voice as he spoke.

“Well, make sure you keep them on until after your free program tomorrow,” Victor replied, his voice lifting back into jovial territory. “Then they can fall off.”

“Ha, ha,” Yurio responded, unamused, as he exited the car. He plucked his bag from the floorboard in front of the passenger’s seat and then put the seat down so that Victor could extract his chair from the back with ease. He waited for Victor to transfer, and then began to walk beside him as they made their way into the hotel and up to their room, both men eager to shower the moment they got inside, which unfortunately for them once again had just one bathroom. It was going to be a battle to see who would commandeer the shower first. Victor eventually relented, allowing Yurio to shower first on the grounds that he was free to use the restroom prior to Yurio shutting himself up in there to clean up and get ready for bed. Yurio couldn’t argue with that. As soon as Victor exited, Yurio grabbed a t-shirt and a pair of sweat pants that he had gathered from the deepest confines of his suitcase and made his way into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him and stripping down after turning the shower on to warm the water up. He completely removed his pump, infusion set and all, as it was time to change it out for a new one anyway. As grateful as he was for the device, he did enjoy the times when he didn’t have to be tied to it. It was a love-hate relationship that he had with it for sure. As he stepped under the heat of the water, he closed his eyes, resigning himself to fully committing to tomorrow’s free skate not only for himself, but for Victor, for Otabek, and for everyone who had supported him throughout the season. He was determined to end this on a high note.

* * *

“Are you ready?” Victor asked, sitting next to Yurio who stood at the boards waiting for his name to be called.

Yurio nodded, bright green eyes flashing with focus and jaw set in determination. "Da." This was it: the last competitive skate of the season, and he was beyond ready. He disconnected his pump from his body(which was a relatively simple task thanks to a small zipper cleverly hidden behind an applique that gave him access to his stomach) and then removed the device from his jacket pocket which he then passed to Victor for safe keeping. He followed this with rather unceremoniously tossing his Russia jacket into Victor’s lap, revealing his costume – a one piece outfit with black pants and see through black shirt with long sleeves that was adorned with purple appliques and sparkling rhinestones. It really flattered his figure, and it just made Yurio happy that he was able to wear his favorite colors this season. He took off his purple and black guards and stepped onto the ice when his name was called, skating out to the center ice and taking his starting position: standing tall, feet in a T-position on the ice facing the judges, one arm stretched out overhead and the other in front as he waited for the first few notes of his music to swell up from the speakers.

* * *

“Yuuri! Come look at this!” Phichit called out from the bench of the hockey box. He had stopped to take a break and grab some water while Yuuri worked on warming up a few jumps, and as usual was busy on his phone. Yuuri could have sworn that the only time Phichit did _not_ have his phone in his hand was when he was actively skating, and even then that wasn’t always the case. There were sooo many ‘Phichit’s POV’ videos on the man’s instagram. It was incredible, really, and Yuuri meant that in the most sarcastic of manners.

Yuuri inwardly cursed how swingy his damned salchow was today and skated over to where Phichit sat, phone in hand with a video loudly playing on the screen. Yuuri was sure that it was bothering the other skaters at the rink, but then again they didn’t seem to mind. “What is it?” he asked, yawning over how exhausted he was after yet another intense workout this morning. At least he didn’t nearly fly off the treadmill this time. That was one thing that went right.

Phichit held out his phone so that Yuuri could see the screen. Yuuri had to lean in and squint a bit to get a better idea of what he was looking at, but it all soon became clear(well, as clear as it could get for Yuuri at the moment). It was a skating competition, and he didn’t need perfect eyesight to know exactly who he was looking at. “Is that...” he questioned still. Even though it was glaringly obvious, he had always been the type to assume he was wrong about something even when he was right on the money. Nervous habit, really.

Phichit nodded. “Yuri Plisetsky? Yep. I guess this is his free from today. Shame I missed his SP yesterday.”

Yuuri gasped in mock surprise. “Phichit? Missing out on something online? Okay who are you and what have you done with my best friend?”

Phichit simply laughed. “Hey, I may be a social media god but even I miss stuff sometimes. Besides, we were practicing. That’s more important than watching Angry Russian Boy skate. We can watch his SP later. But damn if this free skate isn’t impressive.” It really was. Yurio had really gone all out during that free skate today. His jumps were cleanly executed, with no errors on his triple axel or quad salchow. He managed to pull of a quad lutz triple toe combination without flutzing his lutz, and his quad flip was nearly as impressive as Victor’s had been back in the day. His spin combinations were brilliant. No one’s flying camel combination spins quite matched up with Yurio’s, and he was still flexible enough to maintain a half-biellmann position while spinning upright as well.

“Did he flutz?”

Phichit rewound the footage. “Nope, strong outside edge on that quad lutz entry, see? Why?”

Yuuri chuckled. “That was one of the things that Victor had really been onto him about. I swear he must have brought it up a dozen times while I was around them.”

A laugh from Phichit. “Guess he’s really been working on trying to fix it.”

“Yeah, but it doesn’t seem all that consistent yet, at least from the way Victor kept nagging him about it.”

“Good. The more mistakes he makes, the better for us when we compete against him.”

“Yeah...” Yuuri responded, his voice drowning in hesitation.

“Hey, it’ll be fine. You’re going to rock it. Dude you’ve been here with me for just a few days and you’re already making progress on your elements. We just gotta keep working hard.”

Yuuri nodded. He needed to be positive. Worrying wasn’t going to help him move forward at all. “You’re right. I got this. I’m just… he’s throwing a lot of quads...”

“You had solid quads just a few years ago, and you’ve been skating your whole life so I don’t think that you won’t get them back, especially since your doubles are already coming along nicely.”

Phichit was right. He was already seeing the return of his old abilities. He had a good chance at making a comeback, especially because he had skated since he was a child. If he had just started skating now for the first time in his life, there was no way he would ever get to triples or quads. Heck, even doubles might be a bit of a reach if this was the beginning of his journey into skating. Not to say that doubles as an adult skater would be an impossible feat – but the path towards getting there would be harder than it would be for someone who began as a small child. “Thanks. I have a feeling I’m going to need a lot of your pep talks, Phichit.”

Phichit grinned. “That’s what I’m here for! Come on, let’s get back to practice now that we’ve had a little taste of what we’re up against.”

“Good idea.”

* * *

“Yuri! That was amazing!” Victor cheered as Yurio stepped off the ice and returned his guards to his skates. There was no doubt in his mind that Yuri Plisetsky would be walking out of here with a gold medal around his neck. “I am so proud of you.”

“Thanks,” Yurio replied breathlessly. He was desperately trying to regain his composure after that program. He reached out a shaking hand and Victor obliged, passing Yurio his sports drink. After fumbling with the cap, he greedily gulped down several sips, stopping when he needed to come up for air, still panting from exertion. “Shit. I really… I really pushed it.” It was amazing how truly exhausted one could become in such a short time, but at the same time it was amazing to see how much his stamina had improved throughout his life.

“And it shows. You did wonderfully out there, Yuri. Now if we could only have this sort of energy and consistency between all of your programs… oh wouldn’t that be something...” Victor trailed off, a ridiculous grin settling on his face – one that Yurio wanted to wipe away by dumping his drink on his coach and friend, but he restrained himself – for now. He passed Yurio his jacket and pump which Yurio didn’t hesitate to return to his body after a bit of clever maneuvering. Pump in jacket pocket? Check. Tubing through hole in the inside of jacket pocket? Check. Tubing through cutout in costume? Check. Tubing attached to infusion set on stomach? Check. “Now, what do you say we head to the kiss and cry, hmm? I have no doubts about your placement though.” Victor had been keeping tabs on Yurio’s elements and scoring in a small notebook that he had kept with him during his practices and programs, and he could say with confidence that Yurio’s clean free skate kept him in first place. Victor transferred himself to the bench of the kiss and cry and as Yurio’s score was announced, Victor quite literally attached his upper body to Yurio’s in a hug. Surprisingly, Yurio didn’t seem to mind(this time), because he was too happy with the results of this competition to care that Victor was quite literally glomping onto him for the world to see. It just happened to be a habit of Victor’s when he was excited. One tended to get used to it after a while anyway. In all honesty Yurio was just glad to see Victor happy, even though part of him couldn't shake the nagging feeling in the back of his mind that Victor was trying to hide a slew of negative emotions behind that grin of his. _That_ was something he really didn't want to think about right now.

As Yurio took his place on the podium alongside his competitors, he held up his gold medal with pride and smiled. It was a perfect way to end the season, but even more so, being done with this competition meant that he could finally see his boyfriend in person again after so long. He couldn’t wait. As he stepped off the ice and returned to the bench to remove his skates, he felt a vibration in his jacket pocket. Yurio pulled out his phone and felt another smile tug at his lips as he read the text message.

‘ _Congratulations, Yura. <3’_

* * *

“Ahhhhh, nothing like a warm shower after a long day of skating! I’m so tired!” Phichit exclaimed to his hamsters as he finished getting himself ready for bed. “I swear you guys are so lucky sometimes. You get to relax all day every day while me and Yuuri have to work our butts off!” he laughed. Yuuri was already in his room, having passed out on the couch from exhaustion after dinner. His best friend somehow managed to help him into his bedroom before heading off to his own room to shower and turn in himself. He hopped into bed and leaned back against the pillows, deciding to check his social media one last time before drifting off.

What he saw online made it difficult to even consider sleeping.

“Shit.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow it's been forever since I updated. Time got away from me haha. And I'm kind of at that point where I have a set plan of where I want this thing to end up but getting there has been a bit of a challenge. It's slowly coming together now though and I'm starting to have more of a picture of where the next several chapters are going to go before all of the solid ideas I have for the next skating season and GP series kick in. 
> 
> I can't imagine doing a program like Yurio's. My longest program so far has only been about two minutes with just single jumps/jump combinations and that left me exhausted. Doing 4+ minute programs with a ton of quads must be so physically demanding. It just makes you appreciate the athleticism these skaters have.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Which Rumors Start to Fly

"I can't believe our flight was fucking delayed," a rather irritated(okay, so when was he _not_ irritated) Yurio grumbled as he waited impatiently next to Victor at the baggage claim for their things. They had finally landed not too long ago and had hoped to catch Otabek's short program just a few short hours ago, but due to some unforseen delays they had ended up arriving much later than anticipated. He spotted his purple and black leopard print suitcase(because honestly, what else _would_ his suitcase look like) and plucked it off the baggage carousel. He looked up and scanned to see if it had spit up Victor's suitcase yet(spoiler alert: it had not) and resigned himself once again to another wait. At least this time they were at their destination.

Victor simply chuckled. "Patience, patience, Yuri. We'll be out of here in no time."

Yurio rolled his eyes. "That's what you said before our flight took off and look at what happened. Now we're going to be stuck here even longer because they lost your suitcase or some shit." Leave it to the old man to jinx things.

"Just relax, take a few breaths. You're always wound so tight."

"I wonder whose fault that is."

A grin from Victor. "Someone wants to see a certain someone. I can tell."

"No shit. And thanks to our damned flight we missed his SP." On top of that the stupid wi-fi in the plane didn't even work so he hadn't been able to watch it online either.

"Why don't we watch it now while we wait for my suitcase?" Victor suggested. It would give Yurio something to focus on other than his own impatience. After this was all said and done, he figured that checking into their hotel room, taking a long, hot shower, and having some food brought up was in order. Victor was ready for some real food, and he was sure that Yurio shared the same sentiments. Airline food(if one could even call that reconstituted plastic food) was always less than pleasant.

The blond whipped out his phone as fast as he could and quickly found a video of Otabek's short program. Upon viewing the video, his heart couldn't help but sink a little bit. Otabek seemed just as done with this season as he was, except he didn't seem to be holding it together as well as Yurio had. He popped his triple axel and fell on his quad flip triple toe combination. It also looked like his quad lutz was marked as underrotated(something that Yurio thought was complete bullshit, by the way), but his spins were strong(Otabek had a killer change foot camel combination spin no doubt about it, and his flying sit wasn't half bad either). After all was said and done, he placed third after the short, and while Yurio was proud of his boyfriend's skate, he still knew that he could do better. Perhaps surprising him tomorrow for the free program would be just the push Otabek needed to rise up in the ranks and take home the gold.

"How did he do?" Victor asked, having taken up the task of watching for his suitcase while Yurio watched the video.

"Third, but he can come back in the free," Yurio replied with a shrug as he shot his boyfriend a text.

 _'You're fucking amazing, you know that? =3'_ he sent before plopping his phone in his carry on bag. He meant every word of that text. His boyfriend was amazing. Even when he didn't have a perfect skate, Otabek was still incredible to watch. He had such speed and power and flow that Yurio could only dream of possessing one day. Yurio and Otabek liked to joke that Yurio was the graceful skater and Otabek was the powerhouse and that together they made a killer combination. They then went out to prove that at exhibitions.

Victor nodded. "I’m certain he will have a much better skate tomorrow. We will make sure that we are there to cheer him on. I have no doubts in my mind that our little family will finish off the season with nothing short of first place wins.” Yurio had already claimed gold in his final competition of the season and Victor was sure that Otabek could pull it off as well.

“Yeah, our golden family,” Yurio muttered, a slight hint of sadness sneaking into his voice. He wouldn’t admit it to anyone but he missed Yuuri Katsuki being a part of their little “golden family” as they called themselves. When Yuuri left, it was like he had lost a parent all over again. Luckily the timely arrival of Victor’s suitcase was able to pull him out of his depressive thoughts. “Hey, assshole, there’s your suitcase,” he informed the older male who had decided to focus on his own phone instead of the carousel. When Victor didn’t seem to make a move for it, Yurio decided to grab it himself and plop it at Victor’s feet. “Hey...” he grumbled, waving his hand in front of Victor’s face. “Earth to idiot, are you in there? What the hell is so--” he cut himself off as his green eyes flicked to Victor’s phone screen. “Is that who I fucking think it is?”

“Yeah, Yuuri’s at the rink with Phichit.”

* * *

“Morning Yuuri!” Phichit smiled, trying to keep his typical, everyday levels of excitement up and failing miserably. He secretly hoped that Yuuri would be too tired or too blind to notice the forced grin on his face as he set a plate of pancakes down on the table. So far so good. Yuuri seemed like he was still trying to wake up, probably having just rolled out of bed and padded into the kitchen at the smell of food. He didn’t seem anxious at all, which tipped Phichit off to the fact that Yuuri hadn’t turned his phone on yet. All for the best, he supposed. The Thai man was still unsure as to how to break this news to his best friend. It certainly threw a wrench into their plans, no doubt about that.

“Mmm... morning,” Yuuri responded through a yawn as he proceeded to rub the sleep out of one of his eyes. He was so tired. So, so tired. All of the training was starting to catch up with him, and this was just the beginning. “I wish I had your energy every day. I don’t know how you are as awake as you are right now.”

A half-hearted chuckle from Phichit. “Heh, guess I’m just a morning person is all,” he replied, trying to keep the shell he was putting up from cracking, at least until he could figure out the best course of action to take with all of this.

“I wish I was a morning person. I’m definitely not one. Or a night person. Sorry I crashed on your couch again,” Yuuri replied, fighting back another yawn and losing the battle miserably.

This time Phichit let out a more genuine laugh. “That’s what it’s there for, silly. Besides, I don’t blame you. It’s comfortable as hell. It eats people, I swear!”

“Eats people?” Clearly Yuuri was not awake enough for Phichit’s description of couch behavior.

“Yeah, you know... when something is so comfy and you just kind of sink into it and fall asleep? That’s because it ate you.” Phichit was rather proud of this description. His blurry face was practically beaming at Yuuri. Even though Yuuri was having a hard time seeing right now, he could without a doubt make out Phichit’s signature smile.

“Yep definitely too early for this.”

“Haha it’s never too early! Anyway...” Yuuri’s best friend trailed off as he pulled out the chair that sat across from Yuuri’s and planted his butt firmly on it. He then reached over and loaded his plate up with pancakes that he then drenched in syrup. “Let’s eat. I’m starving.”

Yuuri took this as his cue to dig in, and soon enough he had fixed his own plate and managed to wrangle the syrup away from his best friend, not going nearly as crazy with it as Phichit had just a moment ago. “So what’s the plan for today?” he asked after taking a bite. “Gym and then rink?” He figured that was exactly what they would be doing today, but in typical Yuuri fashion, he resorted to small talk, especially since his brain was still in the process of booting up for the day.

A long pause from Phichit, who apparently had found it necessary to chew extremely slowly, almost as if he was trying to see if he could taste any pancake along with his syrup. “Actually I was thinking that it might be good to take the day off. We could chill here and watch movies and order delivery, then maybe play some video games or something. We’ve been training so hard that it might be about time to take a rest day. We can call and see if your glasses are ready too.” Sure they said they would call but it wouldn’t hurt to ask.

Yuuri’s eyes narrowed into a squint. “Okay now I’m really wondering what you did with my best friend.” Just yesterday Phichit had been ready to hit the gym and rink early and now he wanted to do the opposite and stay home. It struck Yuuri as beyond odd. Although he had to admit that if his glasses were indeed ready to be picked up earlier than he expected, then he would surely drop everything that he had planned to go pick them up. He missed being able to see clearly.

Phichit sighed and set his fork down, letting it clatter lightly against the plate before locking his eyes with Yuuri’s. “Yuuri, I hate to be all serious but we need to talk.”

Yuuri could already feel a bubble of anxiety forming in his chest. “Why? Did something happen?”

Phichit stood up, walking over to the counter where he had left his phone and then returning to the kitchen table, pulling his chair up beside Yuuri’s and sitting down next to his best friend. He swiped his phone to unlock it and held it in front of Yuuri’s face so that Yuuri could read the article that he had pulled up. “Last night before I went to bed I noticed that this article dropped. Apparently the rumors have kicked into high gear already.”

* * *

‘ _Yuuri Katsuki Spotted at Rink with Phichit Chulanont – Could Skating Prodigy and Ex-Partner of Victor Nikiforov be Returning to the Ice this Coming Season?’_

_Three years after his mysterious departure from figure skating, Yuuri Katsuki, the ex-partner of legendary figure skater Victor Nikiforov, has been spotted skating alongside former best friend and training buddy, Phichit Chulanont, at what appears to be his current home rink. Could this possibly be signaling a return to the ice for Katsuki? Does he have the time to perfect his elements in the hopes of being slated to compete? Will he be competing with a coach? All attempts to reach Mr. Katsuki as well as Mr. Chulanont for comment have proved unsuccessful. We will continue to update this story as it develops._

* * *

As Yuuri’s eyes scanned the article and fell on the picture, he could feel his heart trying to escape from his chest. This was not what he wanted to happen. It had only been a few days and now the world was speculating that he was going to return to the ice. Phichit had a hand at the ready, awaiting Yuuri’s signal as Yuuri began to hyperventilate. The very physical signs of his anxiety were beginning to manifest in the form of an attack, and as much as Yuuri had wanted to fight it, he had no choice but to succumb. Luckily Phichit was familiar with his anxiety, having witnessed it firsthand several times during their training in Detroit and their subsequent competitions together. Yuuri was beginning to tremble at his point, his breaths coming in short, sharp gasps. He could feel his hands begin to go numb and tingle as if they had fallen asleep, and was convinced that he would drown in this ocean of anxiety had it not been for Phichit’s voice to slowly ease him up over the roughest waves. “Yuuri... Yuuri...” he said softly, his voice slightly above a whisper. “Touch okay?” He knew exactly what to ask after all of these years. Then again, of course he would remember. He was the one that had taught Victor after all.

Yuuri nodded quickly, desperately needing physical contact right now. While there were some occasions in which it made the situation so much worse, there were other moments, like right now, where he needed it to feel grounded. Otherwise he felt as though the rip current of anxiety would carry him away. Phichit’s hand found its way to Yuuri’s back and gently rubbed circles into it, trying to soothe and loosen the muscles that had tightened under stress. “You’ll be okay. We’ll get through this. Just breathe, buddy. You gotta breathe. In....” he counted in his head as Yuuri took a deep inhale, “...and out. Good. Couple more just like that. In.... out....” he smiled as the worst of the anxiety began to fade away, leaving behind a Yuuri with just _slight_ trembles and moderate shuddering breaths. “There, how’s that? Better?”

Yuuri shrugged and shook his head. “Not really.”

A nod from Phichit. Yuuri was physically more calm, but that didn’t mean that his mental state was the same. It was completely understandable, really. “How about this? We lay low today and try to figure out what to do about this article, hmm?”

“I’m sure it’s all over the message boards and social media too. I bet Victor saw it. I mean, I was expecting to have to come out with the fact that I’m planning on competing next season, but I wanted to make sure it was a solid thing before I did that.” He knew there was a good chance that he wouldn’t be able to hide this when he was slated to compete(unless he could think up some crazy scheme that didn’t involve one of Phichit’s fanfiction-esque plans), but he didn’t expect rumors to fly so soon. Perhaps he should have, though. Then it wouldn’t have been such a shock to his entire being. Honestly though his ideal situation would be waltzing into the first competition in the season and completely surprising everyone there. That was starting to feel like a far away dream though.

“Hey, we don’t know that for sure. For all we know he’s stuck in the air right now with shitty wi-fi or something. We can still salvage this, Yuuri. I know we ca--” A knock at the door kept him from finishing that sentence. “Wait right here.” He rose to his feet and walked out of the kitchen and towards the front door, peering through the peep hole and then sighing at the sight that greeted him outside the door. He braced himself and pulled the door open, attempting a half-assed smile for the group of reporters gathered around him.

“Mr. Chulanont, can we get a comment on Mr. Katsuki?”

“Is Mr. Katsuki training for next season?”

“What was Mr. Katsuki doing at the rink with you?”

“Is he joining your ice show? Competing? Can we get a word, please?”

Phichit simply smiled, allowing a few photos to be snapped of him before giving them an answer(and a _very_ polite answer it was, in his honest opinion). “No comment.” With that, he slammed the door shut, locked it, and set the alarm before returning to the kitchen and collapsing at the table next to Yuuri.

“They found my house. They found my fucking house I just moved here how did they find my house?” Yuuri could tell that Phichit was starting to get anxious. Phichit tended to curse and forget how sentences were supposed to operate when he was nervous. “We’re not even celebrities we’re athletes for fuck’s sake why are they stalking us now?”

“Athletes are celebrities now, Phichit.” While it was true that they seemed to have more freedom than say, an actor or a musician, there were still rare times(such as this) when the press decided to come out in full force. “And a picture of _me_ at the rink was leaked. After all these years. No wonder they’re coming out of the woodwork.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. We’ll handle this somehow. We have t-- Shit why didn’t I think of this before?” He grabbed his phone and unlocked it before selecting the phone app and dialing a number. Of course it went straight to voicemail. He probably still had his phone off. Heck, he was probably still sleeping. Hell, Phichit would be doing the same thing if he was on vacation.

“ _Ciao Ciao! I know you’re on vacation but something happened it’s all over the internet you’ll see it so call me back when you get this, bye!”_ When in doubt, call your coach to bail you out!

Yuuri raised an eyebrow. “What... was that about just now?”

“Damage control, my good friend. Damage control!”

* * *

Yurio had spent the entire car ride on his phone, researching and wracking his brain trying to figure out what in the everloving _fuck_ Katsuki was doing at a rink with Chulanont of all people. He had searched every message board, every BookFace and InstaTwitter post, and tumbled around until he couldn’t tumble anymore, but no solid answers. “Do you think he’s honestly going to fucking compete after we showed up in his stupid little town?” Yurio asked after they had gotten settled in their hotel room. He had been texting Otabek back and forth about the recent development as well, and his boyfriend was just as in the dark as they were.

“I’m not sure, Yuri,” Victor responded truthfully as he dug through his suitcase for a comfortable pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt to sleep in. “I’m not even certain if he will have the time to perfect his elements in order to compete.” He was saying that not only from a skater’s perspective, but from a coach’s as well. Specifically from the perspective of having coached Yuuri Katsuki in the past. “From what we saw on the day of the workshop, his skating is still strong, but the question is would he be able to get everything back in time, and not only that, but perfect it for competition. On top of that there is choreography and music to worry about, not to mention the most important part: his coach. If he truly is going to compete and decides to do so without a coach, it’s going to be disastrous.”

“He could be training under Celestino or something. He’s coaching Phichit again for next season.”

“That could be entirely possible. I suppose we won’t know for sure until more news comes to light about the whole situation.”

“Yeah, the asshole still has all of his social media deactivated and his airhead of a best friend is for once _not_ replying to any comments on his pages.” Phichit was being smart for once and it was pissing Yurio off to no end.

Victor chuckled. “Just leave it for now, Yuri. Clearly it isn’t something that either of them wants to discuss right now.”

“That just makes it all the more suspicious.”

“Try to relax and get some rest. We had a long flight. I’m going to shower. Food should be here soon. Don’t wait up for me. Eat. We’ll go see Otabek skate in the morning.”

“Yeah yeah,” Yurio grumbled. At least he had his boyfriend to distract him from any of Yuuri Katsuki’s bullshit.

  
  


 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally another chapter! Was super busy getting ready for a competition then ended up sick afterwards and then after that I have no excuse except life lol. 
> 
> This chapter went in a completely different direction than I thought it would. I'm continuing to get more and more ideas of what to do for some of these not quite middle of the story chapters so that's good. Looking over my notes there are a lot of things I still haven't touched on and I can't wait to get around to them. Some of those plot points I'm slowly going to be adding in the next chapter or two. The drama is really going to kick in when we reach the GP series. I actually wrote a fair bit of one of those chapters today as well. Fleshing out the story at the ends while working on the middle!


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Which Reunions Quickly Approach

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bodily functions including vomiting mentioned in a flashback but nothing graphic. Occasional chapters/flashbacks will continue to include medical situations, since both Yuri and Victor are and have been dealing with these things. I'm trying to make sure that there's a balance between keeping things realistic but not too clinical or gross. 
> 
> Sexy stuff in the next chapter though. Finally Otabek and Yuri reunion. I'm so excited for that. I absolutely adore Otayuri.

Yurio awoke to the sound of his alarm and fought the urge to stay asleep for a bit longer but knew for a fact that he would end up sleeping too long if he did that. He was really battling with the jet lag today(between all of the flying lately and crossing over so many time zones in such a short amount of time, he was borderline out of it), but nothing would keep him from Otabek’s free skate today. Not if he had anything to say about it. Yurio groaned and reluctantly released himself from the warm cocoon of covers that he had wrapped around his frame and rose to his feet, stretching his arms overhead and squeezing his eyes shut as a yawn escaped him. He was trying to at least fight off some of his exhaustion so that he could function properly. He knew that seeing Otabek today would wake him up for sure, but he could already tell that anything before that would be a bit of a struggle. Yurio’s emerald eyes peeled open and fell on Victor’s bed. It was empty. Good. That meant that Victor was already up and getting ready for the day. Yurio honestly felt a little bad that Victor was forced to wake up extra early due to the fact that his morning routine took more time than it used to. It made Yurio stop and think for a moment about how lucky he was to be able to sleep up until the last minute and then quite literally roll out of bed and go somewhere. Poor Victor had to be even more exhausted than he was, and yet he was willing to get up early to drag Yurio’s butt to the rink. Yurio made a mental note to thank Victor for the sacrifices that he made for him. Victor definitely deserved that much at least.

Once he deemed himself awake enough to somewhat function like a human being and not a zombie, Yurio unzipped his suitcase and dug out something to wear to the rink. He finally settled on his black practice pants and shirt as well as his Russia jacket. He knew that he was just going to be watching Otabek skate, but it still felt weird to wear anything other than his skating clothes to the rink. After changing(and nearly tripping over his own feet while he fought to get his pants on in his jet-lagged state – not to mention having to put his shirt on twice since it ended up backwards and inside out the first time), he retrieved his kit from another bag and unzipped it, going through the motions of checking his blood sugar before standing and knocking on the bathroom door. “I’m going downstairs to get breakfast. Do you want anything?”

“Surprise me,” Victor’s voice called back, and Yurio nodded out of habit, turning on his heels with a quick “da,” and heading out the door and downstairs to retrieve their breakfast.

* * *

“Come on, Yuuri, just five more! You can do it!” Phichit cheered his best friend on, holding his ankles steady while he attempted to finish this last set of sit ups. The two had decided to lay low and continue their training in Phichit’s apartment, at least until Celestino arrived to help bail them out of the current predicament that they were in. Luckily there was plenty that they could do here, and they had been filling their time with sit ups, push ups, yoga, some ballet, and most importantly: ignoring any and all forms of social media(which for Phichit was a very difficult thing to do, but he managed to endure for the greater good).

“Three, two, and… one! You’re done! Take a rest!” Phichit grinned as Yuuri let his back flop to the ground with a groan as he desperately attempted to catch his breath.

“Abs… on… fire… can’t… breathe...” Yuuri panted out, squeezing his eyes shut and trying to focus on _not_ hyperventilating. “We’re done, right? Please tell me we’re done.”

“Haha, for now,” his friend replied, reaching over and grabbing a bottle of water and passing it to Yuuri after he had recovered enough to sit up. “Here, you’ve earned it.”

Yuuri nodded and took the bottle, taking several large gulps before breaking away to breathe again. “Well, we can’t say that we aren’t using this time wisely, that’s for sure,” he admitted. There really was a lot that they had been able to do here at Phichit’s home. Between body weight exercises and Phichit’s small supply of weights and balance boards, they really were able to get some nice workouts in. He was glad for that. Not only did it mean that he had been able to keep up with his training, but it also made for a good distraction from all of the internet drama. There was nothing like a little(or a lot of) exercise to really help relieve anxiety.

Phichit nodded. “Yeah, and Ciao Ciao will be here tomorrow so he should be able to fix things. And he’s gonna pick up your glasses for you on his way here.” Celestino had agreed to cut his vacation short to sort all of this out, and had already made a few phone calls and done what he was able to do remotely, but that didn’t change the fact that there were things that also had to be done in person. “I’m sorry, Yuuri. I didn’t even think that some of the other skaters at the rink would recognize you like this...” He really felt guilty for this whole situation and he was determined to make it up to Yuuri in any way that he could.

Yuuri shook his head. “It’s not your fault, Phichit. We just didn’t think things all the way through is all. Although I do feel bad that Celestino had to miss out on the rest of his vacation because of us.” If they had just waited until he had gotten back to start their training, a lot of this could probably have been avoided. Phichit had mentioned that they would have a few days of downtime when Yuuri arrived(which Yuuri now realized was due to his coach being on vacation), but Yuuri had been insistent on starting sooner rather than later and Phichit agreed. In the end, it was all kind of their fault.

A dismissive wave of the hand from Phichit. “We’ll get him a fruit basket.”

“….Seriously? Could you pick a more stereotypical apology gift?”

Phichit shrugged. “Who doesn’t love fruit baskets?” he questioned, causing Yuuri to roll his eyes. “Or do you think a bouquet of flowers and some chocolates would be more his style?”

Yuuri facepalmed at the sheer ridiculousness of that suggestion. “On second thought, fruit works.”

“You sure? Because I know this awesome florist that can whip up a killer heart-shaped ros--”

“It’s a good thing I love you, you know that?” Yuuri muttered, cutting Phichit off mid-sentence.

“You’ll never have me though.” Phichit winked, causing Yuuri to laugh(something he ended up regretting due to the fire in his ab muscles right now).

“Good.”

* * *

Yurio returned to their room only to find that Victor was nowhere to be seen and the bathroom door still shut. He set the food and drinks down on the small nightstand in between their beds and took a seat on his own bed. Taking his pump out of his pocket, he did a few calculations and delivered a bolus to cover the muffin and juice that he had opted for. The breakfast selection sucked, that was for sure(of course it sucked - it was free after all) and the muffins really were the only things that even appeared to be somewhat edible. The blond finished eating and sighed, glancing at his watch and wondering what in the hell was taking Victor so long. He had been hogging the bathroom for what seemed like an eternity and Yurio still needed to brush his teeth and change his infusion set. Not to mention he had to piss. He stood up and walked to the bathroom door, rapping his knuckles against the wood as he opened his mouth to speak. “Hey, asshole, are you fucking okay in there?”

“I’ll be out in a moment, Yuri! Don’t worry!”

Somehow that didn’t do anything to quell his concern. “You better be fucking okay in there you hear me?” He tended to worry when Victor spent longer on his morning routine than usual. It just brought the memories flooding back. He sincerely hoped that Victor hadn’t been hiding feeling unwell from him. Whenever that happened, it never ended well. Yurio could clearly recall the first time Victor had gone out of his way to hide how he was feeling from him.

* * *

“Victor, are you okay in there?” _Yurio asked rather apprehensively as he knocked on the door to Victor’s redesigned bathroom. They had been back home for quite some time now and had a routine down(for the most part, at the very least) but all of the physical changes to the home still unsettled him. Yurio still wasn’t used to the bars alongside the toilet and shower. He also wasn’t used to the shower bench, handheld shower head, or the lowered sink and countertop either. And that was just the bathroom. The entire apartment had been remodeled, and none of it sat well with Yurio. Speaking of the bathroom, Victor had been in there for nearly two hours at this point. Usually his morning routine only took him about an hour or so, so needless to say Yurio was starting to become (more than) slightly concerned._

 _Victor fought back another wave of nausea before he answered._ “I’m fine, Yuri. Just… give me a minute.” _Yurio rolled his emerald eyes. He didn’t sound fine at all. The younger blond could hear the sounds of shuffling – most likely Victor re-dressing himself – and finally the audible click of the lock being released followed by the turning of the handle. Victor then emerged, looking deathly pale and absolutely exhausted with a thin sheen of sweat coating his skin that wasn’t obscured by the fabric of the boxer shorts or oversized tank top that he was wearing._

“You don’t look fine,” _Yurio stated rather bluntly._ “You look like shit.” _He wasn’t about to sugar coat anything._

 _Victor shook his head and_ _was immediately filled with regret_ _as the nausea returned with a vengeance. He thought he was going to throw up in his lap right then and there but somehow managed to swallow it back and replace his miserable expression with an extremely unconvincing grin._ “Whatever do you mean, Yuri? I’m feeling just fine! Never better,” _he lied._

“Bullshit. You were in there forever. What’s going on?” _Yurio scowled, glaring down at the older man sitting before him._

_Victor’s smile fell and tears began to well up in his sea-blue eyes. Yurio’s expression softened into one of genuine concern._

“Victor?”

“I can’t, Yuri...” _Victor all but sobbed as he looked down to his knees. His hands were balled up in fists on his thighs in frustration, worry, and embarrassment._

“Can’t what?” _Yurio wanted to snap at him; he wanted to scream for Victor to tell him what in the ever-loving fuck his problem was, but he couldn’t. That would just be cruel. He had to be patient, and assisting Victor in his recovery was the ultimate test of his patience._

 _Victor kept his head down and screwed his eyes shut, a few stray tears sliding down his cheek in the process._ “I can’t…” _A pause._ “… go _,”_ _he almost whispered,_ _embarrassment flooding his entire being as he confessed his predicament to his friend._

 _Y_ _urio immediately knelt down so he was at eye level with Victor. He had gone from being irritated to genuinely worried in a matter of seconds._ _This was a new development indeed. Usually Victor had the opposite problem –_ _they were still trying to get the timing of his routines down._ “How long? Has it been? Since you… you know,” _he asked, feeling just as awkward as Victor did right now._

“This is the fifth day,” _Victor admitted._ “I’ve been trying… I just… can’t!” _Victor had been doing everything that he was taught to do, following every instruction perfectly, but his stupid body was broken and he was on the verge of hating himself for it._ _This wasn’t the first time that Victor had reached this point of frustration either._ _He_ _fought_ _back another wave of nausea. The last thing he wanted was to throw up on Yurio. Now that he was starting to become increasingly more nauseous, he knew that this was getting to be a serious problem._ “I don’t feel good.”

_Yurio hissed out a curse in Russian, then switched back to English. The two of them had been primarily using English to speak with each other, even though it was their second language. He wasn’t really sure why. Maybe it was just from all of the English they had spoken while traveling to various skating competitions around the world. It just seemed more natural to speak in English nowadays, since that was what they had mainly used for skating events. Sure, he was taking a break now to help Victor, but his defaulting to English instead of Russian still stuck around. On top of that, Victor had pretty much shifted to speaking English full time since getting together with Yuuri. It was the common language between the two of them after all. Somehow English had still remained Victor’s first choice even after Yuuri had broken up with him. Maybe that was his way of keeping Yuuri close by._

_Yurio_ _rose to his feet_ _, took a step back, and ran a hand through his shoulder-length blond hair._ “Shit, Victor, why the fuck didn’t you tell me this sooner?” _He was practically pleading at this point for_ _the other male_ _to at least be honest with him._ _If he was supposed to be caring for Victor, he needed to know what the fuck was going on, damnit!_

“Because it’s fucking embarrassing!” _Victor exclaimed, the tears flowing more freely now. Yurio knew it was bad when Victor cursed. Victor rarely cursed._ “I’m so messed up, Yuri. I can’t even use the bathroom like a normal person!”

 _Y_ _urio let out a breath that he didn’t even know he was holding._ “First of all, no one on this planet is fucking normal, Victor.” _In Yurio’s mind there really wasn’t a such thing as “normal.”_ _There wasn’t a single person on this planet that wasn’t dealing with_ _somethin_ _g_ _._ “And second, I know it’s embarrassing as all hell but you need to tell me this shit so I can fucking help you.” _He may have come across as slightly harsh but Yurio wasn’t the best at expressing himself in a sympathetic manner. Not when he was worried at least._ “Besides, asshole, this isn’t exactly something that’s exclusive to you.” _Yurio had a point there. Bodily functions_ _and all of the struggles that came along with them_ _were just part of being human._ _Hell, Yurio had had his fair share of embarrassing situations throughout his life, and he was certain that there were more to come._ _That was just how life was, after all._ _He pulled out his phone and dialed a number._ “I’m going to call your doctor,” _he informed Victor as he placed the phone to his ear_ _and waited for someone on the other end to pick up._

“Yeah, he says this is day five, _”_ _Yurio told the voice on the other end, having switched to speaking in Russian to better communicate with Victor's doctor._ “Yeah, he’s tried all of that. Uh huh. Hold on a sec,” _he pulled the phone away from his ear and turned to Victor._

“You nauseous?” _Victor nodded._

“Yeah.” _A pause._ “Okay. I’ll go get one now and we’ll give it a try. We’ll keep you updated.” _With that, he hung up._

 _Yurio grabbed his house keys off the kitchen counter and then dug a bucket out from under the sink. He deposited it in Victor’s lap as he walked to the doorway to put his shoes on._ “I’ll be right back. If you need to spew, spew in that.” _Victor didn’t have any time to question him before he was out the door._

 _The blond returned not even fifteen minutes later with a shopping bag in hand. Victor was right where he had left him, and unfortunately he had vomited up his breakfast in the time that Yurio had been gone. Yurio’s heart sank. He hated seeing Victor feeling unwell. He slipped past Victor in the doorway and set the bag down on the bathroom counter. After digging around for a brief moment, he pulled a box out and opened it. After unceremoniously dumping the contents onto the counter(thank goodness everything was properly sealed), he found the instructions and began to read as Victor began to retch again. Yurio looked to him when the dry heaves subsided._ “You done?”

“I… think so. What are you--” _Victor cut himself off as he turned to face Yurio and his eyes settled on the objects strewn across the countertop. He immediately froze._ “Yuri, no,” _he practically begged, blue eyes pleading with Yurio to not do this._

 _Yurio sighed._ “Look, I know this isn’t something either of us wants to fucking do but you’re so goddamn backed up that you’re throwing up so it’s not like we have any other choice right now,” _Yurio explained as he began to set up the device, deciding to leave out the fact that if this didn’t work, they’d be off to the hospital. No need to concern Victor with that right now. That was a bridge they would cross if they got to it._

 _Victor focused his attention to the ground and swallowed hard, nodding_. “Okay,” _he whispered._ “Just… let’s get it over with.”

_Yurio set to work, not saying a word as he laid several folded towels on the floor for Victor’s comfort, followed by a large absorbent pad, just in case. He knew there was no way he would be able to do this on Victor’s bed and then get him back here in time, so to avoid any potential mess on the bed, he opted to just try to make the floor as comfortable as possible for him. They both were silent as Yurio helped Victor transfer to the floor and onto his left side. Victor’s eyes screwed shut as he tried to push the sound of Yurio putting on a pair of gloves and squeezing of a tube of lubricant out of his mind. He was so damn glad that he wasn’t able to feel what Yurio was doing right now. If he had been able to, that would simply make him more aware of what was going on back there, and that would make him even more uncomfortable and vulnerable than he was now. It wasn’t as though either of them hadn’t used an enema before. Honestly, when it came to sex with their respective partners in the past(or in Yurio’s case, the present), cleanliness was a top priority. It was just… the circumstances surrounding everything were different now compared to then._

_Yurio pulled his gloves off and washed his hands._ “Give that time to work, then we’ll sit you up and you can take it from there,” _he informed the other male, gesturing to the toilet seat._ “I’ll be back in a bit.” _With that, Yurio left the bathroom, wanting to give Victor at least a bit of privacy._

 _True to his word, Yurio returned several long minutes later and helped Victor get himself situated yet again._ “Call for me if you need anything else,” _he stated simply as he made his way back out to the living room and situated himself cross-legged on the couch, playing random games on his phone while waiting for Victor._

 _It took some time, but Victor finally emerged from the bathroom and sat in the doorway that connected his bedroom to the living room. Yurio looked up through long, blond bangs and raised a questioning eyebrow._ “Better?”

 _Victor suddenly found the floor very fascinating, focusing his gaze upon it and nodding._ “Y-Yeah.” _Good, at least they wouldn’t need to make a trip to the hospital now. Yurio made a mental note to update Victor’s doctor on the situation._ “I’m so sorry about that, Yuri.”

“There’s nothing to apologize for, asshole. I’m here to fucking help you. And you...” _he too shifted his gaze to the ground,_ “don’t have to be embarrassed about anything around me. I’m not going to judge you.” _Yurio might have been a bit of a dick, but he wasn’t that horrible._ “I know you would help me if I was dealing with shit too.”

_Yurio was right. Victor ended up pulling through for him when he had least expected it._

* * *

“Victor! Come on, hurry it up in there! I’ve got to piss and change my damn set you asshole!” Yurio knocked once more. This time Victor’s response was less than enthusiastic.

“Yuri!” Victor practically whined from the other side of the door. “I don’t know what to do!”

Warning bells were going off in Yurio’s mind. Was Victor sick? Did he somehow hurt himself in there? Were they going to end up missing Otabek’s skate because Victor needed help or a doctor or something? Victor had been acting off lately, but Yurio chalked that up to depression. Fuck, why today of all days? “What do you mean? Victor what the fuck are you talking about?”

“I can’t get it down, Yuri!”

“The _fuck?"_

* * *

“Hey, Yuuri, you want to watch Beka’s free skate today?” Phichit asked curiously. Sure, they had missed his SP but that was okay. With all that had been going down, checking social media or turning on the television(of _course_ Phichit was subscribed to every skating channel known to man) to watch a program wasn’t exactly at the top of either of their lists, but now that they had a chance to turn notifications off and just relax and work out(quite literally) some of their nerves, now seemed like a good time to tune in.

Yuuri nodded, taking another bite of his sandwich before glancing over to Phichit. The two had camped out on the couch to eat lunch and just take it easy for a bit after all of their exercise. “Yeah, do we have time to watch his SP first?”

“Definitely,” replied Phichit as he leaned forward and grabbed the remote off the coffee table, flipping on the television and switching to the appropriate channel. “They’re replaying yesterdays events before today’s air, so we’ll be able to catch his short no problem.”

“Sounds good.” Yuuri was interested in seeing him skate. He was interested in seeing all of his old friends(and any new faces that had popped up recently) skate. If anything it would help him get some idea of what he might be up against when it came time for him to compete again this upcoming season. It might help really light a fire under his ass to get him to buckle down even more with his practices as well. He was determined to make a comeback. The more he focused on competing, the more it became about himself instead of Victor. He without a doubt still wanted answers from his ex, but watching the other skaters and being on the ice again himself was just reigniting the passion that he had thought that he lost.

* * *

“I’ve tried everything, Yuri! I can’t get it to stay down!” Victor exclaimed, still locked in the bathroom.

“Victor, what in the _hell_ are you talking about?” Yurio was starting to wonder if he even wanted to know.

“You promise not to laugh?” Okay, this was just getting weird.

“I’m sure I’ve seen you in a fucking worse state than… whatever this is, Victor.” Hell, they _both_ had seen each other in less than desirable states. Yuri’s mind flashed back to how he must have looked to Victor(and Otabek as well) after he had puked, pissed himself, and passed out just slightly over a year ago. Not to mention various highs and lows that he had fought with, especially in the beginning when he was learning how to balance everything with his active lifestyle. On top of that, there was everything that Yurio had witnessed and assisted Victor with throughout Victor’s recovery. Honestly nothing was really too much information between them anymore. “So if you want my help just let me fucking know! I’m not going to laugh!” Just what that help might entail was beginning to concern him greatly.

The silence that followed was punctuated by the sound of the lock releasing and the door swinging open. As much as Yurio tried to hold it in, he couldn’t help but start to laugh. And fuck was he having a hard time stopping.

“Yuri! You said you wouldn’t laugh!” Victor exclaimed, desperately trying to cover himself with his hands. Every time he tried to force it down it would simply pop right back up, however.

“You...” Yurio wheezed, not sure why he was finding this so funny. It was the jet lag. It had to be the jet lag. “The fuck did you do last night? Get stuck in a tornado?” Yurio had never seen Victor’s hair so messy before. It even looked as though he had attempted to salvage it by taking a brush to it, but just ended up making it worse in the process. It was sticking up in ways he didn’t even know was possible, like some cross between a porcupine and soft serve ice cream, spiking and swirling in any and all directions. Usually Victor was so put together. Seeing him in this state was just hilarious. Maybe Victor was human after all. Yurio grabbed his phone and snapped a quick picture despite Victor’s protests. “Hey, don’t be like that. We have to preserve this shit. For science.”

Victor sighed. “Fine, fine, just help me fix it, please! It’s a mess! All of the thin spots are showing and I look horrifyingly old.” Victor really didn’t want to go to the competition with bedhead from hell. No, if he and Yurio were to show up that meant there was an extremely high chance of them having to interact professionally with other industry professionals, and he wasn’t going anywhere if he was a mess.

Yurio rolled his eyes. “You don’t look old, and your hair is still thick as fuck, so calm down.” Sure, Yurio would joke about Victor being an old man but when it came down to it, he was still young. He knew that aging was one of Victor’s fears so he wanted to at least try to reassure him that he had nothing to worry about right now. Age was just a state of mind anyway. “Turn around.” Victor did as he was instructed. Yurio grabbed a can of hair spray, hair gel, a brush, and a hair dryer and got to work. “You ever think of growing it out again?” Yurio asked as he worked the round brush and hair dryer through the longer bangs of his friend’s strikingly silver hair.

Victor’s eyes shifted to look at Yurio in the mirror. “Like when I was a teen?” he questioned.

Yurio shrugged. “Yeah.”

A chuckle from Victor. “I suppose I haven’t really thought much about it. I figured I was just too old to pull off that style again. It’s such a pain to maintain long hair too. Not to mention long hair would be heavy and it would really make my thin spots obvious.”

Yurio resisted the urge to (gently) whack Victor with the brush. “You’re not old and your hair isn’t thin. Stop that.” A pause. “It is a pain in the ass to maintain though. I can’t believe I didn’t cut my hair sooner.” Yurio was glad that he changed up his style. He remembered having short hair as a child but after growing it out as a teenager, he almost forgot what it was like to have short hair. He liked how light his hair felt now, and how it never seemed to take as much effort to get it to look the way he wanted it to look. He did miss being able to put his hair in ponytails and braids, however.

“It suits you.” Both styles did. Victor paused and let out a soft laugh. “Now wouldn’t it be something if I grew my hair out again and you kept yours short?”

“Oh so now you’re considering it?”

“Just a thought. Nothing set in stone.” Victor grinned.

“Do whatever the fuck you want to do, that’s what I say.”

“I like the way you think.”

After the mess that was Victor’s hair was finally tamed, Yurio warned him to not fuck it up again and shut himself in the bathroom, finishing what he needed to finish up while Victor munched on his breakfast. Before they knew it, they were on the way to the rink, Yurio’s excitement growing by the second as they got closer and closer to their destination.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is in progress with a sexy Otayuri reunion to come, as well as some more insights into Victor's emotions. Also, Celestino reunion with Phichit and Yuuri along with some damage control, in addition to Phichit sitting down to have a very important discussion with his best friend.


End file.
